Northern Light
by TwilightObsessed522
Summary: After recently losing her husband, Bella is finding it difficult to move on. But with a baby on the way, she knows she needs to. With the help of her friends and a gift left behind by her husband, Bella finds the strength she needs...and something more. All Human. BPOV. Rated M.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi, everyone! So, I got a new iPod last week, and I'm so happy about it. I'm finally able to fit my entire iTunes library on it, which has about 2,000+ songs in it. I couldn't do that with my old iPods. LOL. Anyways, as I was playing around with my new iPod, I came across a song I hadn't listened to in a while and it gave me an idea for a story.**

 **I don't plan for it to be very long. I was thinking maybe around five chapters, but I'm not certain yet. We'll just have to see how it goes. :)**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

 ***Tissue Warning May Apply***

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 **Northern Light**

 **Chapter 1**

I stood outside of our bedroom door with my hand on the doorknob, willing myself to turn it and push it open.

I knew what I would find on the otherside. The room would be exactly the same as it was before he left us, minus my clothes and jewelry, and one of his best formal outfits. The bed would be unmade and the sheets would be wrinkled. A half empty water bottle would be sitting on his nightstand next to one of his watches on one side, and on the other, a picture of us on our wedding day. Tucked into the corner of the picture was a smaller one. My first ultrasound. He was so proud of that photo.

Thinking about those things made my eyes begin to water. I pulled my hand off of the doorknob as I blinked back the tears, and placed it on my swollen stomach. The knowledge that our daughter will never meet her father breaks my heart. With that last thought, my tears broke free and ran down my cheeks as I began to sob.

I'm not sure how long I was like that, but the next thing I knew, I was being swept up into a pair of very strong arms and being carried to the guest room. The room I have made my own since I lost my husband two months ago. In my moment of grief, I had forgotten that Sam Uley was here to help me clean up the house and sort through Jake's things to see what I'd like to keep or donate.

I met Sam through Jake after we first met when we were kids, and he quickly became a very close friend of mine as well. He's like the big brother I never had. I was very grateful for all of his support through these difficult times. I don't know what I would have done without him.

As Sam gently set me down on the bed, he sighed. "You still couldn't do it, huh?" he asked softly.

I shook my head. "No. I tried. I really did, but I just couldn't." I sniffled and wiped the tears from my face. "That room holds so many memories."

Sam let out a small snort and grinned at me. "I bet it does," he said teasingly.

I knew where his mind just went, and I cracked a smile. I elbowed him in the side as he chuckled, and replied, "Get your mind out of the gutter, Sam. Not all of the memories we made in there were about sex."

His smile slowly faded and he wrapped one of his big arms around me. "I know that. I was trying to lighten the mood a little. And by the looks of it, it worked."

I laughed softly. "Maybe a little bit."

"Good. Now that you're feeling better, let's get serious."

"Okay."

"Bella, your baby is going to be here in less than two months and you don't have anything set up for her yet, because you can't bring yourself to step into your old bedroom with the way it is right now. You're running out of time. That room has to be cleared out as soon as possible."

"I know that," I said with a sigh. "It's just so hard. Plus, I still have to clear out Jake's studio room. I have no idea what I'm going to do with all of his recording equipment and music."

"Do you have any trouble going into that room like you do with the bedroom?" Sam asked curiously.

I shook my head. "No. I never really spent much time in there," I explained. "Why?"

"I have an idea that can help you."

"I'm listening."

"Why don't I call up some of the guys to come in and pack up the stuff in the bedroom for you, so you can go through the boxes later, while you and I go see what we can do with the studio?" Sam asked hopefully.

I thought about his idea for a few minutes and decided it was better than nothing. "Okay. Let's do it."

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 **A/N: So that's the first chapter. Let me know what you think of it so far. I'd love to hear your thoughts. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hi. Thank you to everyone that left me a review for the first chapter. I'm glad you like it so far.**

 **To the guest reviewer that wanted to know why I originally had Jacob listed as one of the characters in the summary, thank you. It never crossed my mind that Jacob fans would get upset to see that and then find out he's dead in the story. I had listed him there because he has an important role in the story. But I went back and took him off the list after thinking about it.**

 **For future notice, if anyone has a question for me that they want answered, please sign in to leave a review or PM me. It's very hard for me to respond quickly when I can't reply directly to you, otherwise you'd have to wait for the next update to get a response, and with me you never know when that will be. Thanks.**

 **Also, I'm not going to go into detail about our favorite Quileutes. Imagine them as the guys from the movies, only in their mid-20's. Their personalities are also the same except for Paul, he's nice in this story.**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

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 **Chapter 2**

A few minutes later, Sam and I were in my kitchen. While he called up the guys from the reservation, I began to make a bunch of sandwiches for later. It seemed at times that eating was all the men ever did. It was the least I could do for them though, since they were going to be helping me.

Twenty minutes later, Sam and I were sitting on the couch in the living room watching tv while we waited for the guys to arrive.

As soon as I heard the sound of vehicle doors slamming shut, I turned off the tv and went to answer the door with Sam following behind me.

The moment I opened the front door, I found myself being greeted and hugged tightly by one large Quileute after another. I should have expected that though. I haven't seen them since Jake's funeral.

Paul was the first to speak when they were all done. "Hey, Bella. How are you doing?" he asked with a large smile.

I gave him a small smile in return. "I'm doing as well as I can, I suppose. I'm just trying to take things one day at a time, but it's rough."

"We hear you," Jared replied glumly as the others nodded in agreement. "We all miss him too."

"Yeah. Things just aren't the same without him," Embry added quietly as he gave me a sad smile.

I was beginning to feel emotional again and they must have sensed it because they quickly changed the subject and started asking about the baby.

"So, Bella, how far along are you now?" Jared asked curiously.

"I'm seven months along," I said with a smile as I rubbed my stomach.

Jared's eyes widened in surprise as he stared at my stomach. "Really? Wow. When is your due date?"

"I'm due around Thanksgiving, so I'm probably not going to be making any of my pumpkin pies this year," I said apologetically. That earned a disappointed groan from everyone. They looked forward to them every year.

"Damn. I'm gonna miss that pie this year," Embry said with a pout on his face. He sighed deeply and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, well. I'll get over it. So, anyways, are you having a boy or girl?"

"It's a girl," I said with a smile as I felt her give a tiny kick, almost as if she somehow knew we were talking about her.

"That's awesome! Congrats."

"Thanks. I still haven't decided on a name yet, though."

"Don't worry about. You still have some time before you need to pick one," Paul said nonchalantly. But then he gave me a mischievous grin. "Unless you want us to help you pick out a name."

"Um, that's okay. I think I can manage." There was no way I was letting them help me choose a name for my baby. Don't get me wrong, these guys are my friends, but they'd probably come up with some really ridiculous names. "So, on that note, how about we get down to business?"

After they all agreed, I explained to them what needed to be done with the master bedroom. I told them to strip the bed first and then take the matress and frame out to the trucks, so they'd have more room to move around while they pack everything else up. I then told them that they could move the boxes into the garage when they were done packing, and let them know if they needed me or Sam, that we'd be working in the music room, and that there were also sandwiches and soda in the fridge if they got hungry.

After they left the room to start working, I turned to Sam. He had been quiet since the moment the guys got here. "What's up? You've been awfully quiet."

He shrugged his shoulders a little and gave me small smile. "Nothing. I was just watching you. You've smiled more in the past ten minutes, than you have in the last two months. I think having them around again has been a good thing," he stated.

"Yeah, it's good to have them here again," I agreed. "I missed them, but I guess I just didn't realize how much. You guys and the baby are the only family I have left now."

Sam gave me a stern look. "You know that's not true, Bella. What about the Clearwater's? Sue was going to be your stepmom before Charlie passed away, and she's always treated you like a daughter."

He's actually right about that. Sue was the closest person I have to a mother. In my opinion, she was even better than my own mother when she was still alive too.

"And Seth thinks of you as another big sister," he continued. He's also right about that, too. "And Leah, well..." he trailed off with a grimace.

"She still hates my fucking guts," I finished for him. Sam shot me another look. "What? Those are her words, not mine."

"Okay, so Leah's out, but you still have Billy, too."

Now it was my turn to glare at him. "Oh, really? Last time I checked, he hated me, and thought I was responsible for Jake's death," I spat angrily.

"Bella," Sam sighed wearily. "The man had just lost his son when he said those things to you. He wasn't thinking clearly. He's probably over it by now."

"I doubt that. I've tried to call a few times, but he never answered. And you know those ultrasound pictures I sent to him about three weeks ago?" He nodded silently. "He sent them back to me," I said quietly. I felt like I was going to start crying again. Damn hormones.

"Can we talk about this some other time?" I asked pleadingly.

Sam gave me a nod. "Sure. We should get to work on that music room anyways. Who knows what condition Jake left in?" he joked, trying to lighten the mood. I had to chuckle at that. If there was one thing my husband wasn't known for, it was being organized.

We made our way to the room, and when we reached it, Sam put his hand on the doorknob and asked, "Are you ready to see what's on the other side?"

I took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright," he said. "Here we go." And then he opened the door.

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 **A/N: What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts. :)**

 **Thank you for reading and reviewing. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey, everyone. Thank you for reading, reviewing, following, and adding this story to your favorites. It really makes me happy to know that you're enjoying it so far. :)**

 **A couple of my readers were curious about what the deal is with Billy, but we'll learn more about that further into the story.**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

It was completely dark in the room, and Sam had to feel along the wall for the light switch. As soon as he found it, he flipped the lights on and we both stepped inside. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at what I saw.

"Um...wow! This was the last thing I ever expected to find," Sam said in surprise as he gazed around the room. "It's so...clean, and organized."

We were standing inside of the Sound Booth, or as I liked to call it, 'Jake's Office'. This was where Jake spent most of his time. It contained some pretty expensive equipment that I had no clue how to use, as well as a lot of other things like CD's, vinyl records, a laptop, and whatever else Jake used to make music. It even had a small sofa in it.

On the other side of the room, was a long glass window and another sound-proof door, and behind it, was the Recording Room. The difference in the atmosphere of that room was obvious as soon as you walked into it. This was the part of the room that contained the big fancy microphone. And just like a real professional recording studio, it was sound-proof. Jake had tried to explain to me once why this room felt so different from everywhere else. I guess it had something to do with a difference in air pressure or something like that, and the cancellation of outside noises. Whatever the case, it was a very strange sensation to experience.

"Yeah," I agree in awe, as I walk around the small room and look at everything. My eyes roamed across the shelves that held Jake's vast music collection, and so far, I couldn't find a single thing out of place. He must have done this while he was still well enough to do so. Deep down I knew why. It was so I would have one less thing to worry about after he was gone. That thought made my heart ache.

"Hey, Bella?" Sam suddenly called out, pulling me from my thoughts as I absently rubbed at my chest.

"Yeah?"

"It looks like Jake left you some stuff," he stated as he held up a small handful of envelopes. I waddled over to the sofa and sat down on it while Sam brought the envelopes over to me to look at. "They each have numbers on them and the first one has your name written on it, so I'm assuming that they were meant for you and that you have to open them up in order."

The first thing I noticed when Sam handed me the stack of envelopes was that there were five of them. The second thing that came to my attention was that one of them was much larger than the rest, and that it had something more than just paper inside of it.

As curious as I was to find out what it contained, I figured that Jake must have numbered them for a reason, so I was going to honor his wish to open them up in order, starting with the first one.

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 **A/N: I'm curious to hear your theories on why Jake numbered the envelopes and what they might contain.**

 **Also, it looks like this story is going to be much longer than five chapters, but at this point I'm still not sure how long it will be.**

 **See you soon! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hi. I want to start by thanking everyone who left a review for the last chapter. Two of you had some good ideas about the letters, but didn't manage to get it right. ;)**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

I took the first letter from the stack and set the rest aside as Sam sat down quietly next to me. "Do you want me to stay here, or would you like a bit of privacy while you look at these?" he asked kindly.

I smiled faintly at him and replied, "You can stay. I'll let you know if I need to be alone, okay?"

Sam nodded gently. "You got it." He sat back on the sofa and watched me open the envelope with my name and the number one written on it.

I pulled out the piece of paper from inside of it and unfolded it. Seeing Jake's somewhat messy handwriting made me smile.

 _Bella,_

 _Let me start by saying that this particular letter isn't going to be what you're expecting. It's not going to be very romantic, but more like a set of instructions. That being said, I know you are curious about the other envelopes and are probably wondering what the deal is with the numbers on them, but I'll get to that later. Right now, there is something I want to tell you about regarding my music studio._

 _You know that making music has always been my passion, whether it was writing it or producing it. I've dreamed of becoming a big name in the music industry since I was a kid. I had high hopes that this very room would help me achieve that dream, but fate had other plans for me. Because of that, I want you to help me with something important. I may not have been able to make it very far with it, but I'm hoping that this room will someday be able to help someone else achieve their own dreams of making it big. So, I'm asking you to keep this room as it is, and rent it out. How you plan to do it will be up to you._

 _Now that that's out of the way, let's go ahead and get back to the envelopes. They're not all for you. I figured that by putting numbers on them instead of names, only you would know who they would go to once you read this. They're all very private and I don't want anyone reading them that isn't supposed to. So, here's the list:_

 _2\. That one is for you._

 _3\. That one is for our daughter when she turns 16._

 _4\. Sam._

 _5\. My father._

 _So there you have it. I can't think of anything else to add to this one, so I suppose you can move on the next one._

 _Love always, Jake._

Well, that was definitely unexpected, I thought, as I carefully folded the letter back up and placed it back inside the envelope for safe-keeping. I leaned back as much as I could in my condition, closed my eyes, and sighed deeply.

"That bad, huh?" asked Sam.

With my eyes still closed, I shook my head. "No. Not bad at all. It was actually really good."

"What did it say?" he asked, his face full of interest. I spent the next few minutes explaining to him what Jake wanted me to do with the studio room. I also gave Sam the letter that Jake keft for him.

I wanted to open my other letter, but I was starting to feel a bit tired. I think it would be a good idea for me to go take a nap before learning anything else. I let Sam know I was going to go to my room and take a nap, and he told me he'd sill be here when I woke up.

So off to my bed I went.

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 **A/N: So, what did you think?**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thanks for the great response to last chapter, everyone. I was really worried how it would turn out, but I guess you liked it, so I'm very happy about that. :)**

 **We're about to learn what Jake wrote in his letter to Bella, and how the story got it's name.**

 *****There is a song in this chapter, and I ask that you please wait until you get to the Author's Note at the bottom, before trying to look up the song on Youtube. It's very important.*****

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

 ***Tissue Warning***

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

The sudden urge to use the bathroom woke me up from my nap. It was something I've gotten used to over the course of my pregnancy. As I got up and made my way over to the bathroom, I saw through the bedroom window that the sun had begun to set already, letting me know that I've been asleep much longer than I had planned to be. A quick glance at my alarm clock only confirmed my suspicions. I had been asleep for almost five hours.

After I did my business and washed up, I left my bedroom and immediately noticed how quiet the house was, aside from the faint sound of the television coming from the living room, so that's where I headed.

Out of habit, I quickly glanced in the direction of the master bedroom as I walked by it, and saw that the door was closed. I paused for a brief moment, wondering if the guys had finished clearing it out, but I figured I could wait to look inside. There was something else I wanted to do first, though.

I continued on my way to the living room where I found Sam sitting by himself watching TV and eating pizza.

He heard me approach and looked up at me with a smile. "Hey, you. I was wondering when you were going to wake up," he teased. "The guys finished up and left about two hours ago."

Well, that answers two of my questions. "I feel bad for not getting the chance to thank them. I didn't mean to sleep for so long."

Sam shrugged his shoulders. "I'm sure they understand. Besides, you fed them. That's pretty much all the thanks they need," he joked. He held out a slice of pizza for me, but I declined. I wasn't very hungry right now. "They ate all of the sandwiches you made. That's why I had to order a pizza."

I smiled at that. "That's fine. I was just going to go and read the letter Jake left me, so do me a favor and save a couple of slices for me, okay?"

He nodded. "Sure thing. Call me if you need anything."

"I will. Thanks." With that, I turned around and walked back to the music room, where I left the letters. I flipped the lights back on and strode forward to the little sofa and sat down next to the stack of envelopes.

I picked out the one I was looking for and with slightly shaky hands, I opened it up, curious to discover it's contents. I saw the letter first, and after I pulled it out, I saw why it was necessary to have such a large envelope. There was something else inside of it.

I took out the object and looked at it. It was a clear, purple case with a CD inside of it, and it had my name written on it in Jake's messy handwriting. After a minute of staring at it, trying to think of what could possibly be on it, I decided to go ahead and read the letter first, figuring that Jake would reveal the CD's contents in it.

I set the CD aside, unfolded the letter, and began to read.

 _My beautiful Bella,_

 _I love you more than you could ever know. I can't remember if I ever told you this, but I think I fell in love with you the moment we met as kids. Do you remember that day? I bet you do, but there are some things I never told you about it._

 _I remember being angry at my dad that morning because he wouldn't let me go out and play with my friends, because he didn't want me to get all dirty. He told me Charlie was coming over and that he was bringing someone special with him for us to meet that needed some cheering up. Even though I hadn't met you yet at that point, I hated you. I was just a kid, but at the time, all I wanted to do was go play and I couldn't, because of you. I had made up my mind that I wasn't going to be nice to you, but that changed when Charlie arrived and introduced us. I remember looking at you and thinking about how sad you looked, and that bothered me. When our dad's went off to chat, I asked you why you were sad, and you told me that your mom was in heaven now. I knew how bad it felt to lose a mom, so I decided that I would do my best to try and cheer you up, but my efforts didn't seem to do anything, no matter how hard I tried._

 _Our dad's must have realized that, because I remember hearing Charlie tell my dad that you two would come back another day. That devastated me, because I wanted more time to try and help you. And then I remembered something. The day before, my dad had mentioned something about the Northern Light being visible tonight. I remember seeing it a couple of times, and I just knew that you would love to see it. So, I went and asked our dad's if you could attend the bonfire at the beach that night so you could see it, and they agreed to it._

 _Being a kid, I didn't know what love was at that time. I thought that what I felt that night as I watched your face fill with awe and joy as you stared at the colors dancing across the sky, was simply happiness at finally seeing you smile for the first time, but it wasn't until we were older, that I finally realized that it was actually love that I felt for you._

 _Anyways, there's a point to me telling you all of this. That night was also the beginning of a tradition with us. Over the years, whenever the Northern Light would appear around here, you and I would go to the beach and sit and watch it together, first as friends, then lovers, and finally as husband and wife. In my mind, the Northern Light is an important part of our history, and thinking about that gave me a bit of inspiration._

 _I wrote a song for you. It's on the CD that goes with this letter. I hope that you'll like it, and that it brings you a little bit of comfort now that I'm gone._

 _I love you with all of my heart._

 _Forever yours, Jake_

I was a crying mess once I finished reading my letter. Thankfully, I somehow managed to not get it wet with my tears. After a few minutes of trying to compose myself a bit, I carefully folded it up and stuck it back inside the envelope it came in, and put it back with the other two letters laying next to me.

I then grabbed the CD case and got up off the sofa. I needed to hear what Jake wrote for me, so I walked over to where his laptop still sat, and started it up. I knew the password from the times he let me borrow it when my own laptop wasn't working. Once it was ready, I clicked on the iTunes icon and then popped open the CD drive. I took the disc out of the case and placed it onto the tray and closed it up, and waited for it to appear in the program.

After taking a deep breath, I clicked on the song and the sounds of a piano suddenly filled the room. I'm guessing Jake used some special software or the keyboard thing he had to make it sound like a real piano.

A few seconds later, I heard Jake's voice sing out.

 _"When I'm Gone_

 _Like the Northern Light, I'll shine down on you_

 _I will keep my magic sparkle_

 _Brighter and higher_

 _For you"_

The music suddenly changed to a guitar being played, as he continued to sing.

 _"I can see sadness in your eyes_

 _Remember our love will never die_

 _To watch your future from afar_

 _Will surely leave me scarred_

 _But I have to face my demons_

 _I have to realize_

 _That I cannot be with you anymore_

 _But it's alright_

 _Yeah, it's alright_

 _Yeah, it's alright_

 _You've just gotta be strong"_

The music went back to the original verse while the music picked up speed. At the same time, I could feel a few tears run down my face as I kept on listening.

 _"I know it might seem unfair_

 _That tomorrow is not our to share_

 _But let me guide you when you're lost_

 _I'm so much more than shadows and dust"_

At that point I couldn't keep myself together any longer, and I completely broke down. I didn't even get to hear the rest of the song, as the only thing I could hear were my own sobs. I'm not even sure how long I was like that, but it must have been a while because the next thing I know, I was once again being carried to my room by Sam, where I proceeded to cry myself to sleep in his arms.

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 **A/N: This chapter ended up being much longer than I originally planned, so I debated on splitting it up, but decided not to.**

 *****Okay, so the song in this chapter is called 'Northern Light' by Basshunter. There are a few versions of this song on YouTube, so I've posted a link to the correct one on my profile. But, if you want to look for yourself, it's the CandleLight Version.*****

 **And to make it clear, Bella and Sam are NOT in a relationship. He is simply being a supportive friend.**

 **Let me know your thoughts on this chapter. :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Wow! Thank you for all of the reviews, favorites, and follows. The last chapter did a lot better than I thought it would.**

 **I want to give a shout out to Tarbecca for sharing my fic on A Different Forest. I really appreciate it. :)**

 **Sorry for the late update. I had a doctor's appointment today and then I got a very unexpected surprise. My brother's finally home. YAY!**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

It's been two weeks since the discovery of the letters and the song from Jake, and my epic breakdown. I was still feeling some of the effects from that night, though it wasn't anything bad, it was mostly just some tiredness. I shouldn't be surprised though. It took a lot out of me. I hadn't cried that hard since the night Jake passed away.

I think my breakdown was a good thing, though. I needed to just let everything out. The pain, the loneliness, the sorrow...all of these emotions that had continued to build up inside of me. And that precious gift from my husband gave me the push I needed to get it out.

Don't get me wrong though, those feelings are still there, but they've lessened considerably. It no longer feels as though the entire weight of the world rests solely on my shoulders, bearing down on me.

I know in his letter he said that he wrote it to give me comfort and strength, but he knew me better than anyone, and at times it even seemed like he had an extra sense when it came down to knowing what I needed, sometimes even before I knew myself. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I like to think that's another reason why he wrote it. Because he knew how I would react to it.

It wouldn't surprise me if that were the case. That was just Jake for you. He was always thinking about others, I thought, as I sighed to myself.

That earned me a quick, curious look from Sam before he turned his gaze back to the road as he drove us to La Push.

Sam had to go home and get ready for work, and I had a doctor's appointment today. Because it's become increasingly difficult for me to drive myself due to my constantly growing stomach, I needed someone to give me a lift to the hospital, and Sam couldn't do it.

The only person I could find available to take me was Seth Clearwater, my stepbrother...well, 'almost' stepbrother, anyways. My dad Charlie was engaged to Seth's mother Sue, but sadly, he passed away before he got the chance to marry her. But to me, they were both family, regardless.

Speaking of family, that brings me to the reason why I'm going to Seth, rather than the other way around. Apparently, Seth was doing a bit of handiwork over at Billy's house today, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone, and take Billy his letter from Jake, and then have Seth drive me back to Forks for my appointment.

I was feeling a bit nervous, though. Not about my appointment, but because I didn't know how Billy would react to seeing me. That is, if he would answer his door for me at all. The last few times I had tried to contact him, by phone and in person, he ignored me.

It hurts, but I've already lost enough of my family, and I'm not ready to lose another. As my daughter moves around inside of me, I also have to remember that I also have her to think of in this matter. She deserves to have her grandfather in her life.

The sudden feel of a hand touching my arm startled me from my dismal thoughts. I turned my head and looked into the concerned face of my dearest friend.

"Bella, are you alright? I've been trying to get your attention for the past few mintues."

"Um...yeah. I'm fine. I 'm sorry about that. I just had a lot on my mind, I guess," I told him. I looked out of the car window and saw that we had arrived at Billy Black's house. I must have been very deep in thought, as I hadn't even felt the car come to a stop.

Sam got out, and walked around the car to my side. I opened my car door, and Sam lent a hand to help me up out of the seat. "Thank you." I replied with a small smile.

"No, problem," he answered back. He took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh. "Are you going to be okay here? I know it's hard for you and Billy can be pretty stubborn."

I nodded my head. "Yeah, I'll be okay. If things don't go so well, I can just ask Seth if we can leave early, okay? I've got it covered, Sam."

Sam sighed again. "Okay, if you're sure," he made certain.

"I am, Sam."

Sam nodded. "Okay, I guess I'd better be going then. I'll see you later, Bella. Let me know how everything went," he ordered as he got back into his car and drove away.

After I could no longer see Sam's car in the distance, I turned around and walked up to Billy's front door. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves, and knocked on the door.

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 **A/N: I know there wasn't much to this chapter, it was more of a filler. But feel free to review regardless. :)**

 **Has anyone watched** _ **Childhood of a Leader**_ **yet? It's pretty good. I just finished watching it as I wrote the last of this chapter. :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hi. I don't have much to say right now, other than thank you for all of the reviews, favorites, and follows.**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

I stood there for a minute before I heard any sounds on the other side of the door. I held my breath and clutched the letter in my hands as the door slowly opened to reveal the smoldering gaze of my Father-In-Law.

"What are you doing here, Isabella?" Billy spat angrily.

I frowned at his tone. "Um, I'm actually here for two reasons," I responded quietly. "May I please come in?"

I thought he would tell me to leave, but as he glanced down at my stomach, which had grown quite a bit since the last time he saw me, he sighed in irritation. "Fine, but only because a woman in your current state shouldn't be on her feet for long."

I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes at that. At least he was letting me in.

He rolled his wheelchair back so I could pass him to get to the couch and then he closed the front door. I would have preferred the reclining chair, but I didn't think Billy would like that, since it used to be Jake's favorite seat.

As I sank down into the sofa, Billy wheeled himself over and parked in front of me. His angry eyes locked onto my sad ones, but he didn't say anything. And neither did I. As we both stared at each other, I noticed how much older he looked than when I last saw him. His once jet black hair, was starting to show bits of gray, and it appears that he's also lost some weight.

I noticed him shift uncomfortably under my observation, and I quickly lowered my eyes down to the envelope in my hands. I was trying to think of how I should start the conversation, but Billy broke the silence first.

"What's that in your hand?" he asked sharply.

I cleared my throat and looked up at him. "That's one of the reasons I'm here, actually. It's a letter," I began. "For you."

"What kind of a letter?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. I didn't write it," I answered. "Jake did."

I watched as the look on his face softened at the mention of his son, but it quickly changed to anger. "If it's from Jake, why am I only learning of it now?" he seethed.

"I only discovered it two weeks ago, Billy!" I explained, my own irritation growing because of his attitude. "I would have brought it sooner, but I've been extremely tired the past few weeks, and for whatever reason, I felt I should be the one to bring it to you personally." I took a few calming breaths and continued talking.

"To be honest, you would have had to wait longer, but Seth is giving me a ride to the hospital, and I figured that since he was going to be here with you, it would just be easier to bring you the letter and then have Seth drive me back to Forks for my appointment so he can save himself an extra trip back and forth," I explained further.

I could feel myself getting worked up, which is the last thing I needed right now, so I hauled myself up off the couch and took a step towards Billy. Before he could speak a word, I reached out and dropped the envelope onto his lap.

With it no longer in my hands, I felt the sudden urge to cry, but I didn't. Instead, I looked straight into Billy's eyes and said, "I don't understand how things got to be so bad between us, Billy. But at least I'm trying to get past it, and not just because I miss having you in my life. I think we both owe it to Charlie and Jake to get along. And if you won't try for them, then try for your future granddaughter. She's going to need you to teach her about her heritage and... how to fish, because I obviously can't do those things."

I tried to think of something else to say, but nothing came to mind, so I turned around and walked out the house without another word to look for Seth.

There weren't many places he could be and I soon found him in the garage rearranging the various tools and whatever else was in there.

"Hi," I greeted him.

"Hey there, little sis," he said with a beaming smile. I couldn't help but smile back at his greeting. It was a running joke with us, because although I was older than him by four years, he was physically much bigger me.

He leaned in to give me a hug, but I stopped him. "Seth, as much as I love your hugs, right now you're all gross and sweaty.

He laughed. "Yeah, sorry about that. Do we have time for me to swing by my house and take a quick shower?"

I looked at the clock that was hanging by the door. "Yeah, that's fine. My appointment isn't for another hour, so we'll be on time."

Forty-five minutes later, we were pulling into the parking lot of Forks Hospital. We went inside and walked to the OB/GYN ward. Seth took a seat while I signed in at the desk. I then took a seat next to him and picked up an outdated magazine while I waited to be called. We had only been sitting there for a few minutes when one of the nurses called my name.

"Do you want me to go in with you, or stay here?" Seth asked nicely.

I mulled it over for a minute, and decided to go in alone. "You can stay out here, it shouldn't take very long."

Seth shrugged his shoulders. "Okay. I'm here if you need me." And with that, I turned and followed the nurse to one of the rooms.

We made some small talk as she took my vitals and wrote down the information on a chart. "Okay, Mrs. Black. All done for now. The doctor will be with you shortly."

I gave her a smile and thanked her before she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. I noticed some more magazines on the counter and I got up to look at them. When I found one that looked interesting, I picked it up and took it back to the examination table with me to read while I waited.

I had just finished reading an article about a new breed of cat, when I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in!" I said loudly. The door opened and a doctor I had never seen before walked into the room and shut the door.

With a friendly smile on his face, he introduced himself. "Hello, Mrs. Black. I'm Dr. Carlisle Cullen. It's a pleasure to meet you."

* * *

 **A/N: What did you think?**

 **I know a lot of you were probably expecting to learn why Billy doesn't like Bella, but because of the way I have the story planned out, we won't find out just yet.**

 **Also, I have an important question for my readers. Music is obviously an important part of the story, and I'm having a hard time trying to decide on what kinds of music to use for the future.**

 **So if you could take a moment to name a Genre of music you like, such as Rock, Country, Dance, etc...I would really appreciate it. You don't have to go into detail, if you don't like reviewing. One word will do just fine. Thank you. :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thank you for all of your feedback for the last chapter. I also appreciate the help with music choices. Unfortunately, with the exception of Soft Rock, which got 2 votes, all the other answers I got were different. However, Soft Rock is actually one of the very few genres that I don't listen to a lot of. So, as of right now, I'm thinking of maybe just trying to look for songs with lyrics that I feel fit the story, regardless of genre.**

 **I'd also like to give a shout out to LizziePaige. I had a very enlightening conversation with her about this story. :)**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

"It's nice to meet you, too?" I responded slowly, my voice laced with confusion. I didn't mean for it to sound like a question, but I was expecting to see my regular OB/GYN, Dr. Gerandy.

Sensing my confusion, Dr. Cullen suddenly seemed to realize something. "Oh! I'm sorry. Judging by the look on your face, I'm guessing nobody informed you about Dr. Gerandy?" he asked apologetically.

I frowned. "No. Nobody has said anything to me about him. Is he alright?" I asked worriedly. I had known Dr. Gerandy since I was a teenager and he was a wonderful person.

Dr. Cullen was quick to put my mind at ease. "He's fine. However, there was an emergency involving his son out in Maine, so he's left to go help him for a while," he explained calmly.

"Oh," I said quietly. "I hope everything will be okay." I watched as Dr. Cullen set my chart and what I assumed was my medical file down on the counter next to the exam table I was on. He then pulled over a stool and sat down on it.

"I hope so, too," he said softly, a far away look in his blue eyes. "Seeing your child hurting is one of the hardest parts of being a parent, whether its something as simple as a papercut, or something life-threatening."

"It sounds like you're speaking from experience," I commented.

He nodded lightly. "I am. I have a son. His name is Edward."

"Edward," I repeated to myself. "I like that name. It has a very regal sound to it."

Dr. Cullen let out a snort at my comment as he proceeded to open up my medical file to look through it. "It definitely suits him then. He can be a royal pain in the neck at times," he joked, but there was a very slight edge to his voice that I couldn't quite put my finger on. It certainly got my curiosity going, but I didn't want to come off as being rude by asking him to elaborate on it.

Instead, I hummed in response as he carefully read over my medical information, and I took that time to study him more closely. He was a very handsome man. Looking at his face, I would have guessed that he was in his mid-thirties, but the sparse bits of gray in his light blonde hair made me think he was a bit older. Sky blue eyes, a sharp roman nose, high cheek bones, thin lips, and an angular jaw completed the picture. I'm sure he turned heads wherever he went.

Dr. Cullen must have felt my gaze on him, because he looked up and gave me a quick polite smile before going back to his task. "I owe you another apology, Mrs. Black. I'm sorry for making you wait, but I'm afraid that between moving here and getting my family settled in, I haven't had much time to go over my patients records, yet."

"That's okay. I understand. I'm not in any hurry to go anywhere," I reasurred him. "And please, call me Bella."

He nodded in agreement. "Alright then, Bella it is." When he was finished reading, he closed my file and picked up the chart that the nurse filled out and scooted his chair closer to the table. "Okay," he began. "So, according to your previous records you've had a very healthy pregnancy so far. However, while your weight and other vitals were normal today, your blood pressure was a bit elevated. Have you been under any stress in the last few days?" he questioned.

I sighed and nodded. "Actually, yes I have. I had a rough morning today." I answered honestly.

"Hmm," he said as he jotted down some notes. "Have you experienced any headaches, blurred vision, or fatigue?"

"My vision has been perfectly fine, but I have been a little more tired than usual," I admitted. "And I've had a few small headaches, but I think those had more to do with me having some pretty intense crying sessions."

"Crying sessions?" Dr. Cullen asked curiously.

I nodded gently. "Yeah. My husband passed away about two and a half months ago, so things have been pretty hard for me, and every so often I just kind of break down and cry really hard," I told him sadly.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," he replied sincerely. "I can't even begin to imagine what you must be going through right now."

"Thank you."

He gave me a sad smile and then cleared his throat and got back on track. "I'm a little concerned about the high blood pressure and fatigue, so I'd like to run a few tests and while we're waiting for the results we can take a look at your baby and see how she's doing."

While my tests were being performed, I managed to learn a little more about Dr. Cullen and his family. I learned that his wife Esme was an interior decorator, which was actually a good thing, because I still hadn't figured out what I wanted to do for the nursery, and the good doctor was more than happy to give me her contact information when I told him that.

I also found out a few interesting things about his son, Edward. The first thing I found out, was that he had a passion for music. The second bit of information I got was that as a teen, Edward got into some kind of trouble, though Dr. Cullen didn't mention what kind, and that he turned to music as a way to help, and even pursued a music career in college. But that career didn't last long, and Edward soon found himself without the means to do his work. I guess he was still struggling.

That got me thinking about Jake's letter and what he said about his music studio. He wanted it to be used, and I guess Edward was in need of something of that nature.

But when I told Dr. Cullen about my idea, he refused to give me a way to contact his son about my offer, saying he wasn't the kind of person I wanted to get mixed up with. However, I'm not one to judge people based on other's opinions. I'd rather make that kind of decision myself. So I let it go, for now.

After my test samples had been sent to the lab for analysis we got started on the ultrasound. Dr. Cullen first checked her heartbeat, letting the sounds fill the room. It's a sound I could never get tired of hearing. He then made sure she was growing properly. A few minutes later, the ultrasound was over, and I now had a few new sonograms to add to my collection.

About two minutes later, my test results came back. Dr. Cullen looked them over and then smiled at me. "I have good news. Your test results are all normal. That being said, I believe the high blood pressure and fatigue are most likely from stress. I would like you to come back in about three days to check up on your blood pressure, just to be safe. But I want you to do me a favor and take it easy for the duration of your pregnancy, alright?" he explained to me.

I gave him a nod. "I can definitely do that. Thank you." I shook his hand and walked out of the room and down to the desk to make my next appointment.

I then got Seth and he dropped me off back at my house before driving back to La Push.

After I had made myself something to eat, I decided to give Esme Cullen a call about the nursery. It went to voicemail, so I figured she'd get back to me when she got the chance.

And the wait began.

* * *

 **A/N: So, we learned some more about the Cullen's.**

 **I also apologize if I got any of the medical stuff wrong. I've never been pregnant so I had to do a bit of research for it.**

 **See you soon! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hi, everyone. Thank you for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following this story. It means a lot to me. :)**

 **Are you ready for a bit of drama?**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

As I waited for Esme Cullen to call me back, I busied myself with doing a little bit of cleaning up around the house. I know I was supposed to be taking it easy, but I honestly didn't have a whole lot to do and cleaning sort of relaxed me anyways.

So for the next hour and a half, I dusted everything around the house and did a load of laundry. As I was folding my clothes, I heard my cell phone ring. I rushed as fast as I could to the living room to answer it, expecting it to be the interior decorator, but it turned out to be Seth.

"Hey, Seth," I answered, slightly out of breath from rushing to my phone. "What's up?"

 _"Hi, Bella. Are you okay? You're breathing kind of hard,"_ he asked worriedly. I had just started to talk when he cut me off. _"Wait...you're not in labor, are you?"_ He was starting to sound a little frantic, so I knew I had to stop him from panicking any more than he already was.

"Seth!" I shouted into the phone. "I'm not in labor. I was folding laundry and had to hurry to get to my phone. Relax."

I heard him let out a deep breath. _"Jesus, Bella. You scared me for a moment there."_

"Me?" I asked with with a small chuckle. "You're the one that jumped to conclusions."

 _"What else was I supposed to think?"_

I let out a sigh. "You've got a point. Speaking of which, why are you calling me? You just saw me earlier."

 _"I know that. I just wanted to give you a heads up about Sam."_

"Sam?" I questioned. "What about him?" I suddenly got a bad feeling in my gut.

 _"Um...he's kind of on his way to your house,"_ Seth answered slowly. I could tell from the tone of his voice that something was up.

"Seth," I said slowly. "Why is Sam coming here? You better tell me what's going on right now!" I demanded.

Now it was Seth's turn to sigh. _"Sam and Paul stopped by the house a little while ago to drop something off for my mom, and he asked me how today went. So I told him about how you seemed kind of agitated when we left Billy's and how your doctor said you were stressed out and needed to take it easy, and he got really pissed. He was going to go give Billy a piece of his mind for upsetting you so much, but Paul and I managed to talk him out of it,"_ he explained apologetically. I could just imagine him pouting right now.

I let out an irritated groan as Seth continued to speak. _"You should have seen him, Bella. I don't think I've ever seen him that angry before. It was kind of scary, to be honest."_

"Shit," I muttered quietly as I paced back and forth. Things must have been pretty bad then, because Sam rarely raised his voice when he was angry, let alone completely lose his temper like that. "I'll have a talk with him when he gets here, okay?" I told Seth.

 _"Alright. Just give me a call if you need anything, and I'm really sorry about all of this, Bella,"_ he apologized again.

"I know, Seth," I soothed, letting him know I wasn't mad at him. We both said our goodbyes and hung up.

I had no sooner set my phone down on the coffee table and sat down on the couch to rest for a moment when I heard my front door open and slam shut. Heavy footsteps got louder as Sam stormed through my house looking for me.

"Bella!" He called loudly.

"I'm in the living room!" I hollared back. It only took a moment for him to find me and when he did, he hurried over to me and bent over to give me a strong hug.

"Are you okay? What happened today? How are you feeling?" Sam quickly rambled, but it came out kind of muffled since he was still hugging me.

I tapped him on the back letting him know that I needed him to let go of me. As he sat down on the coffee table across from me, I noticed how frazzled he looked. His hair was more unkempt than usual and worry clearly showed on his face.

"Sam, you really need to relax," I told him firmly as I looked him directly in the eyes. "The baby and I are fine, okay? Everything is alright."

Instead of calming him down, that just seemed to upset him more. He angrily stood up and began to pace back and forth just as I had been doing earlier when I was on the phone with Seth. "Bella, things are not okay! This is serious!" he exclaimed loudly.

I sighed and slowly got up off of the couch and stepped in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. I reached up and grabbed his face, making sure he was looking at me while I spoke to him. "You need to calm down right this instant, Sam Uley!" I said sternly. "I mean it." I let go of him and watched as his shoulders slumped in defeat and the anger left him. "Are you ready to hear me out now?"

He nodded slowly, his eyes cast towards the floor. The look on his face reminded me of a child being scolded by their mother for doing something wrong, although now that I think about it, I did kind of use my 'mom' voice on him.

For the next few minutes I told him about how my time at Billy's went, and how Billy hardly said much to me at all. I also explained how I kind of ended up stressing myself out more than he did. Sam was a bit skeptical about that bit, but he let it go. For now.

I was just about to tell him about my visit to the doctor, but my phone started ringing. I looked at the caller ID, and saw that it was the number for Dr. Cullen's wife. I asked Sam to wait a little bit while I answered it, and he got up to make himself a snack in the meantime.

I pressed the 'TALK' button on my phone and spoke into it. "Hello?"

 _"Hello. Is this Isabella Black? This is Esme Cullen. You called about needing some help with a nursery?"_

"Please, call me Bella. And yes, I did."

 _"That's such a pretty name. You can call me Esme. I'm sorry about not getting back to you right away. I was doing some unpacking and I misplaced my phone,"_ she said. She seemed like a nice person.

"Thank you. That's okay, I understand."

 _"So, what is it exactly that you need from me?"_ Esme asked.

"Well, all I have right now is an empty room with white walls, so I need some help painting, decorating, and furnishing it," I explained to her.

 _"Hmm, okay. How soon do you need the nursery to be finished?"_

"As soon as possible. I'm actually due in less than two months."

 _"Oh my goodness! That's pretty soon."_ She said. I could hear the surprise in her voice. _"Do you have any idea of what colors or theme you'd like?"_

"As far as colors go, I really like lavender, but I'm sort of clueless about what kind of theme I'd like."

 _"That's okay, dear. At least it's something. Are you available tomorrow? I can bring over some samples of ideas and measure the room."_

"Yeah. Tomorrow would be great." I rattled off my address and we set up a time for her to come over before hanging up.

Hopefully, we'll get this nursery done in time for the baby's arrival.

* * *

 **A/N: What did you think?**

 **If you don't remember, earlier in the story I did mention that Sam was basically the protective older brother Bella never had. So we got a little taste of that.**

 **Bella is finally going to meet Esme in person in the next chapter. Yay!**

 **I'm sorry for the late update. I had a bit of trouble with this chapter.**

 **See you soon! :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hi. Thank you for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following this story.**

 **I know, it's a few days late, but I hope this makes up for it a little bit. :)**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

I hated rushing to do things.

Right now, I was trying to get myself ready for Esme Cullen's arrival. I had ended up oversleeping this morning, because I was so exhausted from the hectic day before, and she was supposed to be here in half an hour.

On the plus side, I was able to relax a tiny bit knowing that my house was nice and clean. Aside from me doing some dusting and laundry, to make up for his crazy behavior, I had Sam vacuum my whole house and take out the trash. I was grateful for the help though. I took a lot of pride in making sure that my house looked nice.

After showering and getting dressed, I had just finished putting on a little bit of makeup when my cell phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered, without looking at who was calling.

 _"Hi, Bella. It's Esme,"_ she replied, sounding a bit flustered.

"Hi. Is everything alright?" I asked her.

 _"Not exactly. I'm afraid I'm going to be a little late. I'm having some car trouble, so my son offered to drive me wherever I needed to go today,"_ she explained to me.

"Okay. That's not a problem," I assured her.

 _"Oh good."_ She sounded relieved. _"Bella, I hate to impose, but would it be alright if my son stuck around while we went over things? I would hate to have him shuffle back and forth more than once."_

"Actually, that would be perfect. I'd love to meet him. Also, your husband mentioned he had an interest in music, and I have something here he might be interested in using."

 _"Really?"_ she asked in surprise. _"May I ask what it is?"_

"It's a recording studio. I don't have anyone to use it, so it's just sitting empty."

 _"Are you serious?!"_ I almost laughed at how surprised she sounded. _"Edward's been trying to find one to use since before we left Chicago."_

I chuckled a little. "Well, if he knows how to use the gadgets in it, he's more than welcome to use it."

 _"Oh, Bella,"_ Esme said softly. _"You have no idea how much he needs this. I can't wait to see the look on his face when he finds out."_

Once again, I got the impression that there's something going on with the Cullen's son. Before I could ponder that some some more, Esme's voice came through the phone again, but this time I could hear some noises and another voice in the background.

 _"Bella, Edward just came back inside, we'll be at your house in about fifteen minutes, alright?"_

"Okay," I replied. "I'll see you two soon."

After saying our goodbyes and hanging up, I went to the kitchen to make myself a quick bite to eat before they got here. When I was finished eating, I washed my plate off and dried it before putting it away. I then went and took a quick bathroom break, and once I was finished, I went and sat on the couch and played Candy Crush on my phone until the Cullen's arrived a few minutes later.

When the doorbell rang, I got up and made my way to the front door and opened it up, immediately feeling the cool October air hit me. Standing on my porch was a slightly older woman, with her auburn hair twisted into a bun, and kind green eyes set into a soft, smiling face. She was wearing a long, stylish gray coat, with a black dress underneath it.

"Hello," I greeted happily. "You must be Esme."

"The one and only," she answered back cheerfully. I held out my hand for her to shake, but to my surprise, she leaned in and hugged me instead. It felt nice, though. It was a true 'mom' hug, the kind that makes you feel like you're wrapped in warmth and love. I almost didn't want her to let go. "It's so wonderful to meet you, Bella," she said warmly as she let go and took a step back.

I smiled at her. "It's great to meet you, too."

The slamming of a car door drew my attention away from Esme. As I looked towards the driveway, my eyes fell upon a man walking up to the door carrying a stack of albums and magazines.

The first thing that I noticed about him was his hair. It was the most unusual shade of aubern I had ever seen, almost coppery with natural highlights that shone in what little sunlight managed to break through the heavy clouds over Forks. The way it stuck up all over made it look as though he had run his fingers through his hair over and over again.

Below his hairline, thick eyebrows sat above a pair of eyes the color of pine trees...and they were staring right at me. I dropped my eyes for a second after being caught watching him, but I didn't keep them averted for long. Taking his appearance in some more after he looked away from me, I noticed that his nose was slightly crooked, and his lips were set into a hard line. But neither of those things detracted from the beauty of this man, and if anything, they enhanced it.

A few large strides later, and he was standing right in front of me. He was even more handsome up close.

"Hello. I'm Bella Black," I greeted him with a smile.

He didn't smile back. Instead, he gave a curt nod of acknowledgement and simply said in a flat tone, "Edward Cullen."

Keeping the smile on my face, I said, "It's nice to meet you, Edward. I'm glad you could join us today."

Once more, he gave a nod in response, but when he didn't say anything, I saw Esme give him a nudge with her elbow. Edward rolled his eyes at his mom, and sighed. "Thanks for having me," he grumbled out.

Boy, this guy was really kind of rough around the edges, but I did my best to ignore it.

"It's my pleasure." I nodded towards the doorway. "Why don't you both come on in."

As they followed me inside, I shut the door behind us. I offered to hang Esme's coat up for her, but she waved me off.

"Don't trouble yourself, dear. I can handle it," she said in a motherly tone. I turned to offer the same thing to Edward, but he was already removing his black leather jacket and hanging it up next to his mother's. I saw that he placed the stack of stuff on the floor while he did so.

"Before we get started, I'll give you two a quick tour of the house, if you'd like."

Edward just shrugged his shoulders lazily, and Esme glanced at him before turning her gaze towards me, a knowing look in her eyes. "That would be great, Bella. Thank you."

"No, problem," I told her happily. "Just follow me."

* * *

 **A/N: Surprise! Bella finally got to meet Esme, and as a bonus, Edward!**

 **You can kind of thank one of my cats for that. I had half a chapter written and forgot to save it, and one of my cats walked across my keyboard and deleted it. I wasn't able to recover it, so I ended up writing a completely different version.**

 **Next update won't be until later this week. I'm not sure what day, though.**

 **See you soon!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hey, everyone. How are we all doing? Thanks for all of the reviews, favorites, and follows. :)**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

I began the tour of the house with the living room, since it was just off to the side of the foyer.

"This is the living room. I spend most of my time in here when I'm not busy...which is pretty much all the time now," I stated as I watched Esme slowly walk around the room looking at everything.

I looked over at Edward and gave him an awkward smile as he stood next to me looking like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

Now that he was much more near to me, I discreetly tried to get another look at him. This time, I was able to see a faint scar line above his right eyebrow, and he had shadows under his eyes as if he hadn't gotten much sleep. A light amount of scruff covered his face as well.

Moving my gaze downward, I took in his clothes for the first time. He was wearing a gray long-sleeved undershirt with a black t-shirt over it that said 'Led Zeppelin' across the front. Add to that a pair of jeans with some holes in it, and a pair of black Converse shoes, and he kind of looked like someone who should be the frontman of a rock band...or a punk. He was kind of acting like one, though.

I had to fight back a small chuckle at that last thought, but I guess I couldn't keep a tiny grin from showing on my face.

"Something funny?" Edward asked boredly. My eyes snapped back up to his face, and I could have sworn a saw a quick look of amusement in his eyes, but it was fleeting. His green eyes were once again dark and emotionless.

I cleared my throat a little and answered, "Um, I just had an amusing thought, that's all." Edward huffed and rolled his eyes at me and went back to watching his mother flit about the room.

Esme finished a moment later. Glancing at the clock on the wall, I realized we had only been standing in here for a few minutes, but it felt like much longer.

I continued on with the tour, and as I led Esme and Edward through the long hallway towards the back of the house, Esme slowed her pace to look at the various items on the shelves that lined the walls and the pictures that hung up between them.

As she came across a picture of me standing next to my father in his police uniform, she suddenly stopped walking to get a better look. "Bella?" she asked curiously. "Is this by any chance Chief Swan?"

I gave her a confused look. How did she know him? I thought the Cullen's were from Chicago. "Yeah. He was my father."

The curious look that was on her face turned to surprise. "Oh my goodness! You're little Isabella Swan? I thought you looked familiar. How could I have missed that? You look so much like your father."

"I'm confused. How did you know my dad? I thought you guys were from Chicago."

Esme smiled at me. "We are, but not originally." She then launched into a story about how her husband grew up in Forks with my father. She also told me how she and Dr. Cullen met in Chicago when they were in college and fell in love, and how after Edward was born, they would come and stay in Forks every Summer.

"So does that mean we've met before today?" I asked her.

She nodded. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you don't remember, you were only about eight or nine years old at the time." She looked over at Edward and asked, "Edward, do you remember meeting Bella when you were kids?"

He sighed loudly. "If she can't remember, what makes you think I can?" he retorted sarcastically.

Esme gave him one of her 'mom' looks. "Watch your tone!" she told him sternly. He just huffed loudly and turned away from us. Esme gave me an apologetic smile. "I'm so sorry about his behavior, Bella. He's not always like this."

I nodded at her. "It's fine, Esme. We all have bad days."

Esme gave me small smile. "That's so very true, dear. Now, why don't we get back to the tour? I'm eager to see the rest of it."

In the next few minutes, I showed them one of the guest rooms, skipping the one I was using. Then we finally came to a stop in front of the nursery room. I opened the door and walked inside, beckoning them both in.

"This is the nursery." I gestured over to a door on the far wall. "That door leads to the master bathroom, but there's another door in there that connects to my bedroom."

"That will certainly come in handy when the baby arrives," Esme said happily. "Is it alright if I take some measurements of the room right now?" she asked as she grabbed a roll of measuring tape from one pocket sewn into her dress, and a small notepad and pen from the other.

"Yeah, that's fine," I nodded. "Do whatever you need to." As she began to do her thing, I decided to try and engage Edward in some kind of conversation, and I figured music was the way to go. I cleared my throat a little to catch his attention and asked, "What's your favorite Led Zeppelin song?"

Edward's brows furrowed in confusion at my question. "That's a really random thing to ask."

I gestured to his shirt. "I just figured you were a fan."

"Oh," he said after looking down at his shirt. "I didn't really pay much attention to what shirt I grabbed this morning." He then turned his head to watch his mother work.

I thought he was going to ignore my question, but then he suddenly said, " _Whole Lotta Love_."

I turned and smiled at him. "Really? I never would have guessed that."

The corners of his mouth turned up, showing a faint hint of a grin. "And what would have been your guess?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know... _Kashmir_ , or maybe _The Rover_."

His eyes narrowed at me as though he were studying me. "You seem to know a lot about Led Zeppelin. Are you a fan as well?"

"I am," I replied with a nod.

"So, Bella. What is your favorite song?" Edward asked me as he gazed at me intently.

"Um. It's actually a tie between _Ramble On_ and _Traveling Riverside Blues_."

"Hmm. Interesting choices."

Before he could say anything further, his mother finished taking measurments of the room. "All done!" she said cheerfully.

I smiled at her and said, "Great! There are a couple more rooms to show you both on the otherside of the house. Just keep following me."

* * *

 **A/N: What do you think? I snuck in 3 different references. If you get them right, I'll answer any question you have about this story, even if it contains a spoiler. :)**

 **Also, if you don't hear from me for a week, it's because I'm being commissioned to make a very time consuming piece of jewelery for a friend.**

 **Next up is the Music Studio.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hi everyone. Thank you for favoriting, following, and reviewing.**

 **I'm sorry for the long wait. I've been very busy. I do have some awesome news, though.**

 _ **Northern Light**_ **has been voted as one of the 'Favorite Fic Dive Stories from July 2016' over on A Different . I'm so happy about it. I honestly had no idea it was even up for nomination. LOL.**

 **Thanks again, Tarbecca, for letting me know. :)**

 **On a side note, I changed the layout of the Music Room. Instead of first walking into the Recording Room (the one with the microphone) to get to the Sound Booth (the office), it's the other way around. I've already gone back and fixed that issue in Chapters 3 and 5.**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

As I led them through them back through the hallway to the other side of the house, Esme asked me a question.

"Bella, I'm rather curious about the layout of your house. It seems kind of odd to me."

I turned my head and gave her a small smile. "I know. Before my husband and I bought it from it's former owners, it used to be a duplex. We decided that we didn't want to lease out the other side, so we had it renovated to merge with this side, making it one big house," I explained.

"Really?" she asked with a smile of her own. "That's very interesting."

"Thanks. We thought it was very unique."

"It certainly is."

We entered the hallway that led to the Music Studio. Once again, Esme stopped to look at the the items on the walls. This time, they were pictures.

These pictures were of just Jake and I, from childhood and all the way up to our wedding day and up until the day we found out I was pregnant.

"Is this your husband?" she asked happily as she pointed to my wedding photo.

"Obviously," I heard Edward mutter sarcastically under his breath. Looking back at Esme, she either didn't hear him, or chose to ignore him.

I nodded my head at her and said, "Yes. That's Jake."

"He's a very handsome man. Is he Native American?" she asks curiously.

"Yeah. Quileute. His father is Chief William Black."

"Wow!" Esme said in awe. "Will we get to meet your husband sometime today?"

At that question, my face fell, and I was sort of taken aback. I had gotten used to people in the community knowing about Jake's death, and I had told Dr. Cullen about it yesterday at my appointment, but I guess I just assumed that the other Cullen's would have heard about it at some point since they moved to Forks.

I shook my head slowly. "Sadly, no," I replied quietly. "Um, he passed away a little over two months ago."

Esme gasped loudly in shock. "Oh, dear. I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

I gave her a sad smile. "Don't worry about it, Esme. It's okay." I'm not sure if I would have been able to keep talking about him for too long, though, before I ended up crying, so I tried to divert her attention back to our task. "Um, how about we keep moving? I've just got a couple more things to show you before we can sit down and get to work."

"Of course," she said softly, understanding what I was trying to do.

I showed them the two extra guest rooms and the full bathroom, and then moved onto my art room. I haven't had a need to use it since before Jake died, so it was exactly as I had last left it. Turning on the light, I watched as both Esme and Edward stepped into the room to look at what I had.

Drawings, paintings, pottery, and other kinds of crafts I've made were all over the room. My drawing desk was the only thing that was clean, except for my sketchbook and drawing utensils.

I watched curiously as Edward walked over to my desk and picked my sketchbook up, giving me a look to ask for permission to look in it. "Go ahead."

As he carefully flipped through it, I saw the faintest hint of a smile. "These are really good. What are they for?"

"They're just some tattoo ideas I came up with." He looked up at me and raised an eyebrow in question. "Not for me. I'm a tattoo artist," I explained to him.

"Hmm," was all he said to that.

"How did you decide to become a tattoo artist, Bella?" asked Esme.

I shrugged my shoulders at her. "I've always been into art, and I figured that being a tattoo artist was more lucrative than selling my art in a gallery. Plus, I like learning about what tattoos represent for different people. It's truly fascinating."

"I can tell you really love your work."

At that, I really smiled. "I do. I can't think of anything I'd rather do more, other than be a mom," I said lovingly as I rubbed my belly, feeling my daughter move inside me.

Esme walked over to me and put her hands on my shoulders in a gentle manner. As she looked me in the eyes, she said, "That kind of statement says a lot about you as a person, Bella. You're going to be a great mother."

"Thank you. That means a lot to me."

"You're very welcome, dear."

The sound of a throat clearing made us both turn our heads to the source. "Are you done being all nostalgic, or do I have to continue waiting?" Edward asked coldly.

"Edward Anthony Cullen! What on earth has gotten into you today?" Esme scolded. I watched him open his mouth to speak, most likely to say something else sarcastic, but his mother beat him to it. "On second thought, don't answer that. Just do all of us a favor and quit with the attitude. We are guests in Bella's home and you will respect her. Do I make myself clear?"

I watched the interaction with wide eyes as Edward huffed and rolled his eyes at her. "Crystal," he muttered.

I was beginning to wonder if he was bipolar or something. Hell, his mood swings are worse than mine, and I'm the pregnant one.

"Good," Esme said with finality.

Once their exchange was finished, I told him, "There's one more room left to show you guys." I let them exit the room ahead of me before turning the lights off and closing the door behind me.

I led them over to the door to the Music Room, but didn't open it right away. With my hand on the doorknob, I took a deep breath and opened it up. I reached around to flip the lights on and entered the room, with my guests trailing behind me.

Once we were all inside, I turned to face them. "Welcome to the Music Room."

Instead of looking around the room like I thought she would, Esme instead turned her eyes to watch her son take in what surrounded him.

"Holy shit," he stated, his eyes big like a child in a toy store.

"My husband dreamed of becoming a famous music producer someday, so he created this room to help with that," I explained sadly. "He used to spend hours in here making his own music. He loved it as much as I love tattooing people." I started to get teary-eyed thinking about Jake's love of music.

"Are you alright, Bella?" Esme questioned.

I sniffed a little and gave her a sad smile. "I'm fine." I wiped at my eyes and continued talking to Edward. "Um, one of Jake's last wishes was to have me rent this room out to someone who needs it, and yesterday, when Dr. Cullen mentioned that you used to have some kind of music career, I kind of decided that I'd offer to let you use it, if you want."

Hearing that, Edward spun around to face me, his face full of anger. "My father told you about that? Did he ask you to offer to let me use this? Or is this just out of pity?" he asked me furiously.

He didn't even give me a chance to answer him before he stormed past me and his mother and out of the room. A few seconds later, we heard my front door slam shut.

I looked at Esme, with her stunned expression, and was sure that mine must have looked the same.

What the hell just happened?

* * *

 **A/N: Jerkward has struck again. Any thoughts on this one?**

 **See you soon!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hey, everyone. Thanks for leaving a review, favoriting, and following this story.**

 **Just about everyone who left a review had thought Edward was a major jerk and needed to grow up.**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

"Well, that was not how I thought this would go," I said, feeling more confused than ever.

Esme sighed loudly. "I know. I wasn't expecting him to react like that either."

"Should one of us go after him?"

She shook her head and then gave me a reassuring smile. "No. He just needs some space so he can calm himself down. That's what he usually does when this kind of thing happens."

I looked at Esme curiously. "Does this sort of thing happen often then?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Esme nodded toward the door and said, "I can tell you want to know more, but how about we go into the kitchen and get started on planning out the nursury first, and I'll explain a little bit more about Edward after we're done, alright?"

"Okay," I agreed quickly. I was eager to not have to worry about having the nursury ready in time for the baby to arrive, but at the same time, I was also really interested in learning more about why Edward reacted so angrily.

As we silently made our way back through the house towards the kitchen, Esme stopped by the front door to pick up the stack of albums that Edward had left there when they first arrived. Before she started walking back to me, she moved to the front door and looked out of the peephole.

"Looks like Edward went for a drive," she told me as she reached me. Walking farther into the kitchen, she set the pile down onto the table as we both took a seat.

She took a couple of the albums and pushed them towards me. "These are just a bunch of paint color samples for you to look at. I know you mentioned on the phone yesterday, that you wanted a lavender color for the nursury, but I did bring you more color options to look at as well. I often find that people have a tendancy to change their minds when they actually see what the paint will look like when it dries."

I smiled at her explanation, and her ability to quickly change into business mode. "Sounds good." Being a tattoo artist, knowing what colors work best with different skin tones and designs is part of my job. I know this is much different, but I think this particular task will be much easier for me if I imagine the room as my canvas, rather than skin.

For the next half hour, I look over probably about a hundred different colors, until I ultimately choose a very pretty light shade of lavender. It kind of reminded me of the sky as the sun starts to set.

"That's a beautiful color. It's not too dark, but it's not super light, either," Esme complimented. "I think that would look nice with a white trim, don't you think?"

"It is," I agree happily. "What's the next step?"

"That depends. Have you thought of a theme, like animals or maybe something floral?"

I frowned and shook my head. "No."

Esme smiled warmly at me. "That's alright. That's why I brought these." She moved the albums of color samples to the side and put half of the magazines in front of me. "I've found these to be very useful in helping with that problem. They have pictures of lots of different themes, from jungles and pirates, to ladybugs and hearts."

After looking through four different magazines, I came across a picture of a room with butterflies and flowers painted on the baby pink walls. I absolutely loved it. "This is what I want," I said enthusiastically, while pointing to the picture.

"Excellent choice," she beamed. "Now, the last step for you to do is choose what type of furniture you want, and leave the rest up to me."

"Okay, but I'm going to need your help."

"That's what I'm here for," Esme said with a laugh. "Let's start with the color. I think the best choice would be white, to match the trim of the room, and then we can maybe paint some butterflies on them to match the overall theme of the room." I agreed with her choice and asked her to go on.

"One of the items I highly recommend getting is a convertible crib. It will probably save you over a thousand dollars on different beds in the future. It goes from being a crib, to a toddler bed, then a day bed, and finally to a full sized bed," she explained.

I really liked that idea, so I decided to purchase one, along with a matching changing table and dresser.

After going over the final details, Esme determined that given the time it would take for the nursury to be painted and fully dry, and then for the furniture to be shipped and assembled, and the rest of the room decorated, it would take about a week and a half to two weeks to complete.

With all we accomplished in such a short time, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

By this time, Edward was still nowhere to be seen, so in the meantime, Esme and I both took a quick bathroom break and then I made the three of us lunch, covering Edward's in tinfoil to keep it fresh until he returned.

Truthfully though, I was beginning to wonder if he really would come back, but Esme seemed confident that he would.

Once we both finished eating, Esme let out a heavy sigh. "Bella, I can't apologize enough for my son's behavior today. I imagine you probably don't think very highly of him because of what you saw, but I can assure you that he also has a very good side." She frowned and looked down at her hands as she continued to speak. "However, he also has some issues, one of them being a mental condition called Oppositional Defiant Disorder, which is what caused today's outburst. Have you ever heard of that before?"

I shook my head at her question. "No, I can't say that I have. What is it?"

"It's a condition that's usually diagnosed in very young children. Sometimes they grow out of it, but not always, like in Edward's case. No one is really sure what causes it, though, so it can be kind of difficult to treat. It can cause the person to act in a disobediant, defiant, and even hostile manner towards authority figures and others. Sometimes it's more prevalent in certain settings such as home, school, even work settings," she explained to me.

"And in Edward's case?" I asked curiously.

"In his case, it always seems to show up at home or around his father and I. He never had any issues with it in school or at a job. That's why I was so shocked at the way he acted here today. It was very unlike him."

"Is he aware of how he reacts?"

Esme tilted her head to the side as she thought about her answer. "He knows when he's getting upset, but when it comes to actually being defiant, I don't think he does it on purpose like some people believe. I think in that case, he just thinks that he's making his own choice, rather than rebelling."

Very interesting. I had one more question to ask. "Is this an everyday thing, or does it just happen every now and then?"

"It's sort of an everyday thing, but like I said before, my husband and I tend to bring out the worst in him for whatever reason." Esme leaned forward and grabbed my hand and held it. "Bella, knowing this, if you still want to let him use that music studio, I truly doubt you'd have any problems with him, alright?"

"Okay. Thank you for telling me this." Just as I said that, we both heard a car door open and shut.

Edward was back, and it was time for me to have a talk with him.

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, just so you all know, Oppositional Defiant Disorder is a very real thing. I personally, was diagnosed with it at a very young age, and I still struggle with it everyday.**

 **Anyways, I want to let you all know, that I have been asked if I could submit an entry for the** _ **P.S. I Love You Contest**_ **, so for the next two weeks, I'll be working on that instead of this, so I wanted to give you a head's up.**

 **I suggest checking it out. It seems like a fun contest to do. Go to PSILoveUContest on Twitter for more info.**

 **See you soon!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hi. Thanks for reviewing, favoriting, and following my story.**

 **So, I decided to give up on the PS I Love You Contest. I just couldn't come up with a story that reached the word limit. Oh, well. I tried.**

 **And I'm sorry for the late update. I had planned to have this chapter finished last week, but one of my cats got sick and I've been focusing on getting her better, which she is now. And then I broke my glasses and had to wait and get new ones.**

 **Ready for some more Edward?**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 14**

"It sounds like Edward is back," Esme stated, her head turned towards the front of the house.

"Yeah," I murmured absently. I looked at her and asked, "Hey, Esme, can you give me a few minutes alone with him? I'd like to have a chat with him about earlier."

A look of worry crossed her face, but she nodded anyways. "Of course, dear."

"Don't worry," I reassured her with a kind smile. "I'm not going to go off on him or anything. I just want to clear some things up."

Esme's features relaxed a little at hearing that, but she still seemed a bit tense. I let her know that I'd be back in a few minutes, and then made my way to the front door.

I grabbed my jacket off the coat rack and put it on and then opened up the door and stepped outside, closing the door behind me. I didn't have to go too far, because Edward was sitting on my porch step staring out across the yard.

"Mind if I sit by you?" I asked after quietly clearing my throat.

Edward shrugged lazily and answered, "It's your house. You can sit where you want." He scooted over a little anyways.

After a bit of careful maneuvering, I was finally able to sit down on the step. A minute or two went by without either of us saying anything, but I was starting to get cold and I came out for a reason.

"So, about earlier," I began gently. "I'm really sorry for upsetting you."

Edward's head whipped towards me quickly. "You have nothing to apologize for. I'm the one who acted like a complete asshole," he said after lowering his eyes in shame. A moment later he glanced back up at me and said, "I'm truly sorry for behavior today."

I opened my mouth to interrupt him, but he held his hand up to stop me, and sighed heavily. "Look, knowing my mother, she's probably explained some things about me to you, am I right?"

"Yeah," I replied quietly. "She told me about your disorder."

He nodded and ran his long fingers through his unruly hair. "I figured as much," he muttered before turning back to me. "Just so you know, none of this was your fault. I've been dealing with some other stuff lately, and I was already on edge before I got here."

"Okay, well, thank you for telling me. I accept your apology."

"Thanks," he said with a small smile.

Another minute passed before one of us spoke again.

"Does your offer still stand for the music room?" he asked tentatively as he turned his head to look at me.

"Of course. It's yours to use if you want to."

"That's really great," he replied with a grin. "Thank you, again."

I gave him a smile of my own. "You're welcome." My smile soon faded as I thought of something. "Hey, Edward? Since we're being all open and everything, can I ask you something?"

He looked warily at me, but nodded his head.

"Um, why did you get so upset when I mentioned your father? Do you two not get along?"

Edward looked down and ran his hands through his hair again before he answered me. "It's really complicated."

"Okay. We can leave it at that, then. But I want you to know that he had nothing to do with me offering you the music room. In fact, he was actually against it."

Edward shot me a rueful look. "Yeah. That sounds more like him."

I shrugged my shoulders a little. "Don't take this the wrong way, but aside from that, he really didn't seem so bad."

Edward let out a derisive snort. "He's not. Unless, you're me," he said as he stood up and began to pace back and forth in front of me. "I'm not good enough for him...and I'm a huge disappointment. I'm not gonna lie, I've done things I'm not proud of, but I'm trying my hardest to be a better person...to overcome my issues. But that doesn't seem to matter to my father."

With a heavy sigh he stopped pacing and added, "I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm telling you all of this. No offense, but it seems like you already have enough of your own stuff to deal with. You don't need to add my craziness to the mix."

I shook my head at him. "I don't think you're crazy, Edward. I think you just need a little help getting back on your feet, and maybe even a friend," I said with a soft smile.

The corner of his mouth lifted up into a grin. "I suppose you're right, Bella. On the first part anyways. And for the record, I do have friends."

"Have you ever heard the saying that a person can never have too many friends?" I asked him teasingly.

"Point taken," Edward replied with a laugh. "So, I guess this means we're friends then?"

I chuckled. "I guess it does...friend."

"Here, why don't you help me up and we can go back inside so I can show your mom that I didn't damage you in some way.

About 20 minutes later, Esme and Edward finally left.

Aside from what happened earlier, this meeting turned out to be really great. Esme was a wonderful woman, and Edward...he's actually a really great guy, and my newest friend.

* * *

 **A/N: So, what do you think?**

 **If you want to leave a review, please sign in first, so I can reply back.**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: I know it's been awhile since I updated. Not only did I completely redo this chapter 3 times because it wouldn't turn out right, but my poor cat got sick again with something different, so I've been dealing with that for the past 2 weeks and she's still not feeling well. If everything works out, I'll hopefully have the next chapter up in the next two weeks.**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 15**

In the past two days since my first meeting with Esme and Edward, things have gotten pretty busy around my house.

I guess after they had gone home that day, Esme got right to work and managed to get in touch with some painters, and they were willing to start working the next day.

So I had to spend some time moving things from my bedroom to one of the guest rooms on the other side of the house, so I wouldn't be around the paint fumes. I decided it would be easier doing that, than have to pack of bunch of stuff and go stay somewhere else.

And just like Esme said, the very next day, the painters came and got to work on the nursury. I was really excited to see it once it was finished, but I'd have to wait at least a week, until it was done and safe enough for me to go in there.

I hated waiting.

But I had plenty of things to do and people to see to keep me occupied in the meantime.

I worked on some new sketches for tattoo ideas for a few hours, and then got a surprise visit from my stepmom Sue. She ended up staying at my house for a few hours and helped me make dinner, and then we chatted for a bit.

I told her all about my meetings with the Cullen's, and how they kind of knew me when I was younger, but to my surprise she already knew that part. I had kind of forgotten that she would have known them years ago.

She was also very happy to hear that I had found someone to use the music room. She knew how important it was for me to do that. Soon after, we said our goodbyes and she went home.

Now here I am the next day, sitting in the waiting room of the hospital with Seth, while waiting to be seen for my check up with Dr. Cullen. I just hope it wouldn't be awkward after I went against his wishes to help his son.

After one of the nurses called my name, I went with her and went through the usual routine.

Almost immediately after we were done, Dr. Cullen came into the room with a smile on his face.

"Hello, Bella. How are you today?" he asked pleasantly as he sat down with my chart.

"I'm good. You?" I replied.

"I'm doing very well. Thank you," he answered. "I heard you met my family the other day."

I smiled remembering that day. "I did. Your wife is really wonderful. She's been a huge help already. And your son seems like a decent guy. I get the feeling that he and I are going to get along pretty well."

He didn't seem to like that last bit very much, as his brows furrowed and he pursed his lips.

"I'm glad you and my family got along, but I have to say that I'm not too happy at the prospect of you being around my son. He's bad news, Bella."

I narrowed my eyes at him, and said, "With all due respect, Dr. Cullen, I'm an adult. It's up to me whether or not I want to be around someone, not you. You don't have to like the idea of me being friends with Edward, but you should respect my choice. As his father, you know him better than I do. I just met him. But one of the things my own father taught me, was not to judge a person based on what someone else thinks, and that I should get to know that person first and at least give them a chance."

After taking a deep breath, he said, "You're absolutely right. It's not my place to tell you what to do. I just want you to be careful."

"I will."

Dr. Cullen nodded his head. "I hope so."

I rolled my eyes at him while he looked over my chart from today. The last thing I needed was someone trying to tell me what to do with my life.

Dr. Cullen then double checked my blood pressure and then did a quick ultrasound, and then ran some more tests.

While we waited for the results, Dr. Cullen took that time to go and check on one of his other patients that was ready to go into labor at any time.

About fifteen minutes later, he knocked on the door and strode into the room wearing a small smile and carrying some papers in his hand. "I have good and bad news for you Bella."

"Give me the good news first."

"Okay. Your test results came back normal, and your blood pressure has gone down. The bad news, is that it hasn't gone down as much as I would have liked."

"So what does that mean? Are you going to put me on bedrest?" I asked worriedly.

"Not at this point, Bella. The fact that it has gone down is a good thing. If it had stayed the same or gotten higher, then I would have recommended that. But so far, everything seems to indicate that this is just a symptom of stress, nothing more. So just continue taking it easy, and we'll see how you do at your next appointment, alright?"

I let out a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad to hear that. Thank you."

Dr. Cullen just nodded in response to my thanks. Instead, he replied, "If you experience any dizziness, blurred vision, or pain, before your next visit, I want you to come in immediately, alright?"

"Absolutely," I told him seriously.

"Good. Take care, Bella." He quickly shook my hand and then left me to get dressed and see his other patients.

After I had finished and got signed out, I met up with Seth in the lobby. He offered to take me to the Diner so we could talk over lunch, or in my case, a large chocolate milkshake. He was happy to hear that both me and his niece were okay. However, I managed to leave out the parts about what Dr. Cullen said about Edward.

We sat and hung out for a little while longer before I started to get tired.

"Time for your afternoon nap, sis?" Seth joked after I yawned.

I chuckled and yawned again. "What can I say? It's a lot of work growing a human inside you."

He smiled and replied, "I'm glad I don't have to worry about that then."

"Whatever." I pulled some money from my purse and handed it to him. "Go pay for our food so we can go before I fall asleep right here," I quipped.

He winked playfully at me. "You got it, Bells."

Once he got done with that, we were soon on our way back to my house. I completely dozed off, because the thing I know, I'm opening my eyes to the not so happy face of my brother.

I frowned at him. He was fine when we left the diner. "What's wrong?"

"You mean aside from the fact that you fell asleep while I was talking to you?" I could see the corners up his mouth twitch, letting me know he wasn't really upset with me.

I gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry about that," I said with a yawn.

Seth shrugged his shoulders and gave me another wink. "Don't worry about it," he answered lightly. "What you should worry about though, is the guy with the reddish hair pacing back and forth on your porch like a crazy person."

* * *

 **A/N: I know, I suck for leaving it like this. In my defense, my brain is kinda fried right now.**

 **Anyways, Happy Halloween! I hope you have lots of fun. :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hi, everyone! Thank you for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting this story. I was happy to hear that you liked the last chapter.**

 **I took my cat to the vet the morning after I posted the last chapter and finally got an answer as to what was wrong. Turns out her first diagnosis was wrong. But after being treated she's already feeling better, so I haven't had to spend so much time worrying about her, and I was able to get this chapter out earlier than planned. :)**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 16**

The moment I heard that my brain snapped wide awake. I quickly glanced out of the window towards my porch to see Edward pacing back and forth like Seth said. But it wasn't the kind of pacing you would expect from someone who was simply trying to pass the time while waiting.

It was the way someone moved when they were upset or agitated. The fact that he kept reaching up and tugging on his hair only seemed to confirm my suspicion.

"That's not a crazy person, Seth. That's Edward," I told him.

Seth's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Seriously, Bella? That's the guy you're going to be letting into your house on a regular basis? He seems a bit...unhinged."

I hated to admit it, but my brother was sort of right...although I would never tell him that. To someone that hadn't met him before, 'unhinged' would seem like a good description of what Edward looked like right now, especially considering that he also appeared to be talking to himself as well. But for some reason I can't explain, I just knew that wasn't the case. Something was up.

I rolled my eyes at my brother and smacked him lightly in the chest. "Don't be an ass. If you look closely you can see he's upset," I explained to him as I made a move to get out of the car, but Seth reached over to stop me.

"What the hell are doing?" he asked urgently.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" I answered sarcastically. "I'm going to go see if he's alright."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? You barely know him. Who knows what he's capable of in his current state. Just be rational about this. He could be dangerous for all we know."

I glared at him, and his eyes went wide and he shrank back in his seat. "Don't start that crap with me Seth!" I snapped. "You're the second person to assume that I don't know what I'm doing today, and I'm sick of it. You know me better than that. If I felt for one second, that I couldn't trust Edward, I wouldn't go anywhere near him, let alone allow him into my house."

After my little tirade, my brother looked thoroughly chastised. He leaned his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Fuck," he sighed as he opened his eyes and looked at me again, his eyes filled with remorse. "I'm sorry, Bells. I'm really not trying to tell you what to do. I just want to make sure the both of you are safe," he says honestly as he reaches over and rubs my belly.

Then he looked up at me and gave me a smirk. "Besides, I'm your brother. It's my job to be protective of you and get on your nerves whenever I want." I rolled my eyes playfully. "So, can you forgive me, big sis?"

As he leaned back towards his seat again, I sighed dramatically. "I suppose."

"Is that a Yes?"

"Well, it's not a No," I teased him, while he grinned at me. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to go inside now. Not only is it rude to keep my guest waiting, but I also have to pee really bad."

I had to hold back a small chuckle as Seth's face screwed up in disgust. "Eww. I didn't need to know that."

I just winked at him and opened the door and got out. Before I closed the door, I told Seth I'd give him a call later, so he didn't worry, and that I would see him soon.

After Seth pulled away, I noticed that the sound of the car door closing must have caught Edward's attention, because he had stopped pacing and was watching me as I approached.

I was a few feet away from the porch when I heard him say, "I gotta go, Em. She's here. I'll call you later. Bye."

I was confused at first since I didn't see a cellphone anywhere, until he reached into his pocket and pulled out a cellphone and turned it off, and then he reached up and removed a wireless earpiece I hadn't noticed before.

At least now I had proof he wasn't talking to himself, like I first thought.

"Hi, Edward," I say with a smile. "Have you been waiting here long?"

He gave me small smile, but there wasn't any joy behind it. Edward shook his head. "Hey. I've only been here for about twenty minutes."

I looked at him in surprise. "You've been out here for that long? Edward, it's almost cold enough to snow!" All he did was shrug his shoulders in response.

I moved as fast as I could to get the door unlocked and let us both inside.

"Feel free to make yourself at home. I'm just going to use the bathroom real quick," I let him know.

After finishing up, I headed to the living room to find Edward sitting on the couch, hunched forward with his head in his hands.

"Edward?" I called softly as I approached him. He didn't look up at me until I sat down next to him. "What has you so upset, if you don't mind me asking?"

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and took a deep breath. "If I tell you, do you promise not to tell my parents? They'll go batshit if they find out."

I nodded my head. "I promise. Anything you tell me, stays between us."

"Okay," he said quietly. "I got a phone call this morning from my buddy Emmett back in Chicago. He called to let me know that another friend of ours, Alec, is in the hospital."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Is he okay?"

"No, not at the moment. He, um...he was shot," Edward answered sadly.

"Oh, God!" I gasped. "How did that happen?"

Edward looked away from me and ran his fingers through his hair, something I noticed he did when he was nervous. "I don't know all the details, but Emmett said that the police thought it was a case of mistaken identity during a drug deal gone bad. That was him on the phone with me when you got home. He told me he'd call me when he knew more."

"Well, I hope he calls with good news," I told him awkwardly. I mean, what else can you really say to something like that?

"Yeah. Me, too." Edward sat back and leaned his head against the back of the couch and closed his eyes. We were both silent for a few minutes, the only sound in the room being from Edward's feet tapping the floor anxiously.

It was starting to get on my nerves, but just as I was about to ask him to stop, he let out a heavy sigh, and said, "As if I don't already have enough shit going on in my life, now I have to deal with this too? What the fuck? As much as I care about my friend, I really wish Emmett hadn't told me."

I cocked my head to the side, curious to know more. "Why?

"Because it stressed me out, Bella. In the worst way." Edward's voice was starting to get higher, a sign of his growing agitation.

"Okay," I say to him calmly. "So you just need a way to relax."

Edward stood up and began to pace. Again. "You don't understand, Bella. It's not always that simple for me."

"Then help me understand, Edward," I pleaded. "Come sit back down and talk to me."

Edward gripped his hair tightly while shaking his head at me. "I'd rather stand, if that's okay?" I nodded and he continued to speak. "Fuck! No matter how many times I have to say it, it never gets any easier."

"Take your time. I'm not in any hurry."

He took a few calming breaths and said, "Bella, I'm..."

 _Slam!_

Edward and I both jumped in surprise as my front door slammed shut.

"Bella? Are you home?" a voice called out, making me want to bang my head against a wall. Of course, just when Edward decided to open up to me, we get interrupted.

This conversation would have to continue later.

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 **A/N: Sorry to end it there. It was getting a bit long for my taste. I like to try and keep my chapters around the same length to keep the flow even, but this chapter just wanted to keep going.**

 **On a side note, I know that many of you don't really like Carlisle much in this story, so I wanted to rec my favorite Carlisle/Bella fic. I've seriously read it like ten times. It's that good.**

 **Original Sin by BookwormBaby2580**

 **Summary:** **What makes a man irredeemable? USC student Bella Swan finds herself asking that question when she gets involved with the sexy, yet tight-lipped Dr. Carlisle Cullen, a man living in a self-imposed purgatory for the undisclosed crimes of his past.**

 **See you soon!**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Hi, everyone. Sorry for the long wait. I've actually been working on this for a week, and completely re-wrote it twice, but I think I finally got it how I want it.**

 **Now on to the story. :)**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 17**

Edward looked in the direction of where the voice came from and then glanced back over to me, his eyes wide and full of surprise and uncertainty. "Who is that?" he whispered quickly.

"It sounds like my friend Paul."

"Were you expecting him?"

I shook my head. "No, I wasn't." I had no idea what Paul was doing here, but I was going to find out. "It's not like him to just show up here unannounced. Can you give me a minute or two to find out what he wants?"

Edward took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I guess."

"Okay. How about you sit down in the meantime and try to relax a little? I'll try to make this quick," I said, giving him a small reassuring smile.

He just nodded and walked over to the sofa I was sitting on and sat down, leaning his head back and closing his eyes while taking some more deep calming breaths.

I reached over and gave his hand a gentle squeeze before I stood up and walked out of the living room towards the front door.

"Hey, Paul. What are you doing here?" I asked as I approached him. He seemed a bit nervous about something.

He met me halfway and gave me a smile before leaning over and giving me a quick hug. "Hey, Bells. Um, I'm actually here as a favor to Sam."

"Ok. What does he want you to do?"

Paul began to fidget and reached up to rub the back of his neck nervously. "Uh...he wanted me to check on you and make sure you're okay," he explained.

I stared at him like he had two heads. "He couldn't have just called and asked me himself?"

"Well, he mentioned something about Seth stopping by the shop and telling him about how there was some crazy guy hanging around that you supposedly knew, so Sam just wanted me to make sure you were safe."

I slowly shook my head in disbelief at both Seth's and Sam's actions and huffed loudly. "I can't believe those two!"

Paul looked at me curiously. "So, it's true then?"

"Sort of. Yes, I have someone here, but he's not crazy. Edward just received some bad news today and needed someone to talk to," I told him.

"Edward? That guy that's using the music studio?"

I nodded. "That's the one."

Paul let out a sigh of relief. "Okay...well I guess if everything is okay I can get going, and let you get back to your guest."

I smiled up at him. "I appreciate you coming over to check on me, but let my brother and Sam know that they are both on my shit list, and if they know what's good for them, they'll stay away until I say otherwise. They've gone too far."

"Bella," Paul sighed unhappily. "I'll tell them, but they're just protective of you. All of us are. You know that."

"I do, but that doesn't give them the right to go behind my back and send someone to check on me like I'm a child," I answered heatedly.

Paul raised his hands in defense. "Hey, calm down, Bel-"

"Don't tell me to calm down!" I shouted at him before he could finish. "I am so sick of people thinking they know what's best for me!" Then I started to cry.

Paul stood quietly staring at me with wide eyes, startled by my outburst. As I tried to regain my composure, the sound of footsteps coming our way could be heard moving through the halls.

I sensed Edward behind me before I saw him. He put his hand on my arm, instantly calming me and asked, "Bella, is everything alright?"

I turned and glanced up at him with teary eyes, noting the concerned look in his eyes and his tense posture. Taking a deep breath I told him, "It's fine. I lost my temper for a moment. Hormones."

Paul chuckled at that last bit, and I turned and glared at him, making him smirk playfully.

Edward relaxed slightly and glanced over at Paul. "Edward, this my friend Paul Lahote. Paul, this is Edward Cullen."

Edward held out his hand and Paul took it, giving it a firm shake. "Nice to meet you, Paul."

"Same here," Paul answered him with a grin before turning to me. "I'm sorry for upsetting you a moment ago. I'll give Seth and Sam your message, but I'm staying out of this mess after that, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed. I reached over and gave him another hug. "Thank you for stopping by, even if I don't like the reason."

He chuckled again. "No problem, Bells. I'll see you soon." Paul then turned to Edward and held out his hand for another shake. "Edward, I'll see you around."

"Take care," Edward told him as he shook his hand. Paul left after that, and as soon as the front had closed, Edward once again asked me if everything was okay.

"Yeah. Apparently, seeing a strange man upset and pacing on my porch bothered my brother a lot more than I originally thought, and he felt the need to share that worry with another close friend of ours, who in turn decided to send Paul over here to make sure I was safe," I explained to him.

"Oh," he replied flatly, lowering his eyes towards the floor. "I'm sorry for causing you trouble."

I was quick to set him straight. "You did nothing wrong. One thing you have to understand about my brother and my friends, is that they are super protective of me."

Edward sighed and nervously ran his hands through his hair as we walked back to the living room. "That doesn't exactly make me feel any better about explaining what I meant in our talk earlier."

"Edward, we barely know each other at all. I'd completely understand if you didn't want to tell me about something you're uncomfortable with," I told him sincerely.

"No, I need to," he replied, shaking his head. "You should know what kind of person you're allowing into your home on a regular basis."

I led him back over to the sofa and sat down, motioning for him to do the same. "Okay, what kind of person are you, Edward?" I was curious to hear what he had to say.

He leaned forward in his seat and rested his elbows on his knees, and looked at anything but me as he spoke, his voice soft and filled with sorrow. "I'm a recovering heroin addict. I've been clean for about 8 months now, this time anyways."

I thought about that for a minute, letting that sink in. For some reason, I thought back to the other night when we first met, and Edward was apologizing to me for his behavior. He told me that he had already been on edge before he arrived at my house. Could this be why? Could this be what his father was warning me about? And by 'this time anyways,' does that mean he's tried to get clean before?

I had questions for him, but whether or not he would answer them was another matter.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry to stop there, but I needed a break and I wanted to give you all something.**

 **I'm not really sure when I'll get the next chapter written. I'm still a little burned out from writing my other story, but I'll at least start writing it this week.**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Hi everyone. Thanks for all of the reviews, favorites, and follows.**

 **We're going to learn some more about Edward's past.**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 18**

The sound of Edward clearing his throat snapped me out of the many thoughts running through my mind. "Bella?"

"Hmm?"

"Um, you've been really quiet for the past few minutes. In my experience, that's not a good sign. Do you want me to leave?" he asked nervously as he shifted in his seat. I could feel the anxiety and tension emanating from him.

"What? No! I don't want you to leave," I said quickly. "I just needed a few moments to process what you told me."

"Okay," Edward said softly. The look on his face was breaking my heart. He was so sad and unsure of himself right now. I wasn't sure how to make it better, so I hoped my next words helped.

"Edward? Thank you for being honest and telling me. It takes a lot of courage to tell a stranger something like that."

He averted his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. "It would have come up at some point. Might as well get it out of the way."

"Alright. On that note, can I ask you some questions?" He looked back over at me with a curious look on his face. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to," I added immediately.

"What do you want to know?" he asked with a heavy sigh.

"Um...how old were you when you first tried heroin?"

"Seventeen."

"You were so young," I murmured. "Why did you try it? Was it peer pressure or something?" I knew it was a deeply personal thing to ask, but I was curious.

"Or something," he replied. "I was under a lot of stress at that time. Aside from the normal teenage problems and trying to start up a band, my parents...well, my dad at least, had this crazy notion that if I graduated high school early, I'd have a better chance of getting accepted into a prestigious university and become a doctor like him. I was already taking all AP classes, and had a 4.0 GPA, but keeping up was extremely difficult."

"Did you ever tell your dad that it was too much for you?"

"No," he said while shaking his head. "It wouldn't have made any difference. My grades weren't slipping, so there was really no good reason to transfer me to other classes. Instead, I told him I needed a break from the constant studying, and after some prompting from my mom, he finally agreed to let me go on a trip with Emmett, Alec, and Alec's older sister Jane over Winter Break our Junior year."

"Where did you all go?" I asked.

"Miami. Alec and Jane's parents owned a beach house down there. It was the perfect place to get away from the freezing cold in Chicago. Anyways, while we were down there I met a girl." Edward's lips slowly curved up into a small smile as he spoke. "Her name was Tanya. She was our age and had this really long light blonde hair and the bluest eyes I had ever seen. We got to know each other and I learned that not only was she a really sweet person, but she was also from Chicago. We ended up staying in touch after our vacation was over and we started dating."

I watched the smile on his face fade as he continued to speak of the past, his voice beginning to waiver and fill with sadness. "The more time we spent together, the more sure I was that I loved her. We had been dating for about four months when I finally decided to tell her how I felt. But I never got the chance."

"What happened?" I whispered softly when I saw his eyes begin to water.

"She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was walking home from school taking the same route she took everyday, but there had been some sort of accident on one of the streets she had to take, and had to go another way to get home." Edward had to stop for a moment to collect himself in order to go on. "That day...that day some gangbanger decided he wanted to make a statement about something and started shooting randomly at people. He hit a cab driver, who then lost control of his car, and Tanya wasn't able to get out of his way fast enough. She died instantly."

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry Edward," I gasped in horror as tears formed in my own eyes. I knew what it was like to lose the person you love, but with Jake, I knew it was coming. Without thinking, I reached over and pulled him into a hug. It was kind of awkward with my huge stomach in the way, and I took him by surprise, but he still wrapped his arms around me taking whatever comfort I was able to offer.

We stayed that way for a few more minutes before the both of us let go of one another and sat back, wiping the tears from our eyes. The room was silent except for the sound of little sniffles as we further calmed ourselves down. When Edward was ready to talk again, he cleared his throat and continued on with his story.

"After Tanya died, I became depressed. I couldn't eat or sleep, and things I once enjoyed no longer made me happy. My friends tried to cheer me up, but nothing worked. My mom became concerned and wanted me to see a therapist, but my dad refused. He didn't think I needed one, because I would 'get over it eventually,'" he said sarcastically, using his fingers as quotation marks.

"But you didn't," I stated, my emotions torn between feeling sad over Edward's loss, and anger towards his father for not caring more about what his son was going through.

Edward shook his head at me. "No. I just got worse. The pressure to excel in school along with the depression...it fucked with my head," he explained, turning away from me again. "I was desperate to make it stop."

"And that's when you turned to drugs?"

Edward let out a small humorless laugh, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, not exactly. I started by getting drunk at whatever parties Alec and Emmett dragged me to, but it didn't do me much good. If anything, it made me feel worse. Then I tried marijuana. The high from that seemed to help a little, but after a while it wasn't enough. I needed something stronger to get me through the days."

Edward stopped talking and closed his eyes, swallowing hard, momentarily unable to speak. I gave him a minute to collect himself again. "Then one day we all went to another party and I wasn't feeling very social, so I went to find a quiet place to have a few minutes to myself and stumbled on a room full of people shooting up. I immediately turned around to walk back out, but one of the guys called out to me and offered me some," he explained with a deep sigh.

"My first thought was _hell no_ , but looking around at all the blissed out faces, I couldn't help but think that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing to at least _try_ it once. So I turned back around and went back inside the room. I didn't know the first thing about doing heroin, and it kind of scared me, but the guy, Marcus, showed me how to do it. It was...unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I could literally feel it rushing through my veins."

I had been watching his face as he spoke, but movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention and when I looked to see what it was, I saw Edward absently rubbing one of his arms over his long sleeves where he would have injected himself with the heroin. I don't even think he realized he was doing it until he caught me looking.

He stopped and cringed a little, clearly feeling uncomfortable. "Sorry," he apologized to me.

"Don't be," I said to him, trying to ease his worries a little.

He nodded silently in thanks and then cleared his throat. "Anyways, after that I was hooked," he finished quickly, clearly wanting to be done now. But I had one more question to ask him.

"I just have one more thing I want to ask, and then we can stop talking about this tonight and continue it another time, if that's alright with you? I still have some questions."

Edward thought about it for a second before answering. "Deal."

"Okay. Did your friends Emmett and Alec do heroin, too?" I wondered.

"No. Emmett smokes weed every now and then, but not very often. And Alec's never done any drugs, let alone deal them. That's what upsets me the most about what happened to him," he said sadly.

"That's awful," I remarked quietly. "I really do hope he's alright."

Edward flashed me a gentle smile. "Thank you...for everything, Bella. I think most people would have run away screaming if they heard some of my story."

I shrugged my shoulders lightly and smiled at him. "You're welcome. And for the record, I'm not like most people."

"I'm beginning to see that," he answered, his green eyes gazing at me so intensely, I couldn't help but stare right back into them, as if I were under some sort of spell.

But as soon as I blinked, the moment was over. I wasn't quite sure what had just happened, but if I were being honest, I think Edward and I just had a 'moment'.

That thought jarred me back to reality, and suddenly I felt a bit ashamed of my reaction to him. My husband hasn't even been dead for three months, and here I am having some kind of moment with someone I met a few days ago. I was suddenly overcome with emotion, and I started to cry. Again.

"Oh, shit!" I heard Edward say. "Bella? What happened? Did I say something wrong?"

When I shook my head no, he tried a different approach. "Uh, can I get you anything? Tissues? A glass of water?"

I sniffled loudly, but all I was able to do was nod.

"Okay," he sighed, as he stood up and looked around. He spotted the box of tissue on the coffee table and picked it up and handed it to me, and then he walked to the kitchen to get me some water. He appeared with it a moment later. "Here you go."

"Th-thanks," I hiccupped, as I reached up and took the glass from him. I sipped it slowly until my breathing returned to normal and then I cleaned myself up with the tissues. "I think l'm going to go rest for a little while. Feel free to stick around and hang out in the studio, if you want to. You can even order a pizza if you get hungry, the menus are in the drawer next to the fridge."

I got up and started to walk towards my room, but stopped when Edward spoke. "Bella, are you sure I didn't do anything to upset you?"

"I'm sure, Edward," I said softly. And then I went to my room and layed down on my bed and cried some more until I fell asleep.

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, so we learned a bit about how Edward became addicted to heroin.**

 **I'll be updating within the next week or two. :)**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews, favorites, and follows.**

 **There were a lot of people who hated Carlisle's guts.**

 **Disclaimer - Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 19**

In the week following Edward's confession to me, things seemed to be going very well for the most part.

Edward had been spending a lot of his time in the studio writing music, and when he wasn't doing that or attending one of his Narcotics Anonymous meetings in Port Angeles, he spent his time hanging out with me and getting to know me better. He was in a much better mood now that he knew that his friend Alec was going to be alright.

Emmett had kept his promise and called him again as soon as he got some more news. Alec had been shot twice, once in his left shoulder, and once in his left side, narrowly missing anything vital. He had a long road ahead of him filled with lots of rest and physical therapy, but he was expected to make a full recovery. It turns out that the police's original assumption had been correct about Alec being misidentified as a drug dealer, and a suspect had already been taken into custody, but that's all that Emmett knew for the time being and promised to keep Edward up to date.

Aside from that good news, another good thing that happened this week was that the nursery finally got completed.

Esme had called me on Wednesday morning to let me know that the furniture would arrive the next day, and that she would arrive at my house a little earlier so she'd be here to tell the movers where to put stuff. She wanted the reveal to be a surprise, so she had me stay in my craft room while they worked.

It was really hard to stay put, but the wait was worth it. Once they had finished getting everything into place, the movers left and Esme came and got me. She and I walked back over to the nursery, but right before we got to the room, she covered my eyes with her hands and slowly steered me into my baby's room. As soon as she removed her hands, I opened my eyes and took in the sight before me.

The nursery was perfect and exactly the way I pictured it to look. The walls were painted a light lavender color with white trim. Wildflowers in many shapes and colors lined the bottom edges of the wall above the trim. Realistic colorful butterflies were perched on some of the flowers or fluttered above them. And to top it all off, Esme hung little butterfly decorations from the ceiling with clear fishing wire, giving the illusion that they were really floating in the air.

All of the furniture had already been placed throughout the room. There was the changable crib, a changing table, a dresser, shelves on the walls for knick knacks or toys, and even a padded rocking chair. She even left enough space for me to add some more things in the future. Esme had really outdone herself, and earned a customer for life.

The nursery quickly became one of my favorite areas of the house. More than once, I found myself in there sitting in the rocking chair with my hand rubbing by growing belly, just thinking about stuff.

Right now wasn't one of those times though. Currently, I was in my craft room working on a couple of new tattoo designs, but they weren't going to be for a client. They were going to be for me. Despite being a tattoo artist, I actually don't have any tattoos myself. These were going to be my very first ones.

The first one was going to be a design of a wolf and a black swan with their foreheads touching. I thought it was a good concept. According to the legends of Jake's tribe, their ancestors were descended from wolves, so having a wolf represent him seems like a good idea. The swan represents me, as my maiden name was Swan. The reason I chose a black swan over a white one was because it was a combination of both of our last names, Black and Swan.

The second tattoo was going to be a butterfly to represent our daughter, although I haven't decided what colors to make it yet.

I was just adding some finishing details to the outlines when my stomach began to growl from hunger. Looking up at the clock hanging on the wall, I realized it was already past noon. I put my stuff away to work on later, and got up and walked over to the door opening it up.

To my surprise, I could actually hear the faint sounds of someone playing the guitar coming from inside the studio. Edward must not have closed the door all the way, sealing the sound inside. I hadn't had the chance to hear him play yet, so I quietly moved closer so I could hear better.

To my surprise, he began to sing.

 _"She speaks to me in Persian_

 _Tells me that she loves me_

 _The girl with golden eyes_

 _And though I hardly know her_

 _I let her in my veins_

 _And trust her with my life"_

Edward had a beautiful voice. It was smooth, but at the same time it had just the right amount of roughness to it. It was perfect. I wanted to hear more, and he didn't disappoint.

 _"I wish I had never kissed her_

 _'Cause I just can't resist her_

 _The girl with golden eyes_

 _Every time she whispers_

 _'Take me in your arms_

 _The way you did last night'"_

As I continued to listen to him sing, it suddenly dawned on me what he was singing about. The 'girl with golden eyes' was a euphemism for heroin. I had to admit, it was clever. He took something very ugly and turned it into something beautiful. It was a special gift to have. The more I learned about him, the more amazed I was.

Suddenly, Edward stopped playing and singing and said, "How did it sound that time?"

"Much better," answered another guy's voice. "I think you finally figured out the right chords for it."

I heard a loud sigh and what sounded like a guitar being put down. "Finally. I've been working on it for about two months now," Edward replied with relief.

I decided this would be a good time to annouce myself. "I think it sounded really great," I said, opening the door wider and stepping inside the room.

Edward turned around, a look of shock on his face. "Bella! You heard that?"

I gave him an amused smile. "I did. The door wasn't closed all the way."

"Sorry about that. That was Jasper's fault," he grinned playfully.

"No it wasn't! Don't listen to him, ma'am." I turned and looked at the man who had just spoken. He was around our age, with short blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He had a cute, boyish face with a crooked smile that seemed familiar.

"Relax, I know Edward's joking. Do I know you?"

The man stood up and walked over to me, holding out his hand for me to shake. "Jasper Whitlock, ma'am. We went to high school together."

I stared at his face for a moment, before recognition hit me. "Oh my gosh! We did. I'm sorry, you just look so different." And he really did. Back in high school, he was kind of scrawny, and looked like a poster boy for the grunge scene. His hair was also much longer and curlier, and his eyes were no longer red. He was a total stoner, always high on pot. I remember my dad arrested him once, but let him go with a warning, not that it stopped him from smoking pot again.

Jasper's grin grew even bigger. "I know. It's amazing what a couple of years in the Marines will do."

I couldn't keep the surprise off of my face. "You joined the Marines?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replied happily with a nod. "It's a long story."

"I'd like to hear about it sometime. Oh, and stop calling me _ma'am_. You can call me Bella, like everyone else."

"I apologize, _Bella_. It's a habit, but I promise to try my hardest not to call you that."

"Thank you," I said, right before my stomach growled really loud. I could feel my face grow hot as we all laughed. "I'm so sorry. I was actually on my way to the kitchen to make myself something when I heard Edward singing, and I got distracted."

"Edward's singing tends to have that effect on people," Jasper joked.

"Oh really?" I asked as I glanced over at Edward, who just shrugged his shoulders at me. "So you've heard him sing before, then?"

"Yes, he has. Jasper is actually Emmett's cousin, so we go way back," Edward explained to me.

"That's pretty cool. I bet you guys have some pretty interesting stories about each other from when you were kids," I said with a smile.

Jasper chuckled. "Oh, we do."

"Have you two eaten anything? If not, you can tell me some of them while we eat. I have a craving for Mexican food, so I'm making tacos."

"Mmm. Tacos sound wonderful, but you don't have to go through the trouble of making us food."

"Nonsense. I don't mind. Really. When you're friends with a bunch of very large Quileute's, you get used to making a lot of food," I said with a laugh. I was being serious though. I was used to it.

So, forty-five minutes later we were all sitting in the dining room eating our tacos, and having a lot of laughs. I don't think I've ever seen Edward smile or laugh so much. It was nice. He needs to do it more often. I think having Jasper around will be a good thing. Edward's decided to start getting a band together, and Jasper is it's second member, with Edward being the first, obviously.

They had just started talking about ways to search for more band members when my cell phone chimed with an incoming text from Sam.

 _ **Hey B. How R U? Can we talk?- Sam**_

 **Hi. I'm fine. Now is not a good time. Maybe later. -Bella**

I sent the text and turned my phone off for the time being. I didn't want any drama today.

* * *

 **A/N: So a lot kind of happened in this chapter.**

 **The song Edward was singing is called, "The Girl With Golden Eyes" by Sixx AM.**

 **And we met Jasper. I got the idea of him being a pot head in high school from a movie called Senior Skip Day. In it, Jackson Rathbones character, Skippy, is a pot head. It's hlarious.**

 **On another note, I have just recently learned that I will be moving into a new apartment at the end of March, so I won't have a lot of time to work on the next chapter, because I'll be busy packing.**

 **I'll get the next one out to you as soon as I am able to.**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Wow. I got some good feedback from the previous chapter. Thank you. :)**

 **I'm glad you all seemed to like Jasper. If you're wondering why I made him a former Marine, it's because it's a saulte to my brother, who is also a former Marine.**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 20**

The rest of the evening was a little more low key.

After the guys finished eating, they both proceeded to wash all the dishes for me, despite my protesting. It was a nice gesture on their part, but it kind of got on my nerves. They were my guests, and I take a lot of pride in being a good hostess. However, I was beginning to feel kind of tired anyways, so I shouldn't complain too much.

When the dishes were all done, they both excused themselves and returned to the studio to continue working, while I went into the living room and sat down in the recliner chair and turned on the TV. After a few minutes of flipping through the channels, I finally decided to settle on some old _Law and Order_ re-runs.

I don't remember falling asleep, but the next thing I know, a sudden twinge in my stomach woke me up. It didn't feel the way it does when the baby kicks, so I figured that maybe it was just gas or something, but about twenty minutes later it happened again. It wasn't painful at first, just kind of uncomfortable. It did cross my mind that maybe I was starting to go into labor, but I wasn't sure.

Over the next two hours, I continued to moniter how often I was feeling these twinges, and while they weren't getting closer together, they were getting a bit painful as time went by. I wasn't sure at this point whether I should just wait a little longer and see if it stops, or if I should go to the hospital and get checked out, but while I thought on it, I got up and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. I grabbed a glass out of the cabinet and began to fill it up when I heard footsteps behind me.

Turning my head, I saw that it was Jasper. With a smile he said, "Hey, Bella. Mind if I grab a soda from the fridge?"

"Go ahead. Feel free to help your-" I didn't get to finish my sentence as I was hit with another wave of pain, making me drop my glass of water into the sink. I bent over and clutched my stomach, closing my eyes and trying to breathe through the pain.

"Bella? What's wrong?" Jasper asked me worriedly, immediately coming over to me and gently grabbing hold of one of my arms and leading me over to a chair and helping me sit down. After a minute, the pain started to subside and I told Jasper what was happening. By the time I was finished explaining, Jasper was just looking at me with a frown on his face. "Bella, I'm gonna be honest. I have no idea what's happening to you, but I really think we should take you to the hospital to get looked at."

I nodded my head at him and grimaced. "Okay. I'm not going to argue. That last one really hurt."

"Guess it's settled then. Let me go grab Edward real quick," he said just as we heard more footsteps approach, and a few seconds later Edward rounded the corner. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear," Jasper said with a chuckle.

Edward heard him and flipped him off, making us both chuckle at him. "Yeah well, I came out here to see what was taking you so long to grab a soda."

"There's been a change of plans. You got your phone and car keys on you?"

Edward nodded at him, his face full of confusion. "They are both in my pocket. Why?"

"We're taking Bella to the hospital," Jasper answered in a commanding tone.

"The hospital?" Edward asked, the expression on his face quickly turning to surprise, but it changed to concern as he turned his gaze towards me. "What's going on? Are you having the baby?"

"I don't think I'm in labor, but I keep getting hit with these waves of pain. And I really don't mean to be rude, but can we save the questions for later and go now?"

After that we all got moving, only stopping at the front door to get our shoes and coats on. Opening the front door, we were all hit with a gust of cold air making us shiver. We shuffled outside, and I turned to lock the door. With that done, they both proceeded to help me down the porch steps and over to Edward's silver Volvo.

After I was seated in the backseat and buckled in, to my surprise Edward tossed Jasper his keys and hopped in the back next to me. In one of our previous conversations, he had mentioned how possessive he was of his precious car, so the fact he was willing to let someone else drive so he could sit with me was rather touching.

A minute later, we were on the way to the hospital. Luckily for me, I didn't live very far from it. Less than ten minutes later, we were pulling up in front of the hospital...just as another wave hit me. Jasper quickly jumped out of the car, not even bothering to shut the door, and ran inside to get some help while Edward stayed in the car with me, trying to keep me calm.

Almost as soon as he disappeared, Jasper reappeared with a nurse and a wheelchair. After Edward got out and helped me into the wheelchair, Jasper got back in the car and drove off to find a parking spot, and I was wheeled into the building quickly with Edward following, and immediately taken up to the Maternity Ward and settled into a room.

The nurse then proceeded to take my vitals while asking me why I was there. I explained to her what was happening, and once she was done getting whatever she needed from me, she went over to drawer and pulled out a hospital gown and gave it to me to put on. Then she told me that Dr. Cullen would be in to see me as soon as he was finished with his latest patient and if I needed anything in the meantime to press the call button on the side of the bed. I thanked her and she left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Um, I'm gonna go grab a cup of coffee from the vending machine down the hall while you change," Edward said to me as he stood from his chair. "Do you want anything? A bottle of water? Or maybe something to eat? I think I saw one filled with snacks by it."

I shook my head at him. "I'm good for now, but thank you for asking."

"No problem. I'll be back in a few mintues."

After Edward left the room, I quickly undressed and put the gown on. Luckily, Forks Hospital likes it's patients enough to buy those wrap-around gowns, instead of the ones with the open back where your butt shows. After reaching up and tying the strings by my neck and at my hip, I folded my clothes up and set them on the counter before settling back on the bed.

There was a knock on the door and then, "Bella? It's Edward. Are you decent?"

"Come on in!" I said loudly, and a moment later the door opened and he came inside carrying a steaming cup of coffee in one hand, and in the other a bottle of water and a pack of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. He walked over to the side of the bed and set everything down on the little table next to it, and then pulled the chair closer to the bed before sitting down.

"I know you said you didn't want anything, but I got something for you anyways in case you change your mind," he said with a small smile as he pushed the Reese's and water closer to me.

"Thank you, Edward. That was very thoughtful of you."

"What can I say? I'm a thoughtful guy...when I want to be," he joked with a smirk on his face. As we were both chuckling at that, someone knocked on the door.

"That must be Dr. Cullen. Are you going to be alright around him, Edward?" I whispered.

Edward nodded. "I'll be fine. I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees me here," he answered quietly.

So with that, I yelled, "Come on in!"

* * *

 **AN: What did you think? I wanted to make it a little longer, but aside from spending most of my time packing for my move in 2 weeks, I also pulled some muscles in my neck, shoulder, and lower back, so it's a bit difficult to sit and type for long.**

 **But at least I gave you something. :)**

 **See you in 2-3 weeks!**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait. A lot of things have been happened over the last few weeks. As you know from my previous AN, I was in the middle of moving, and I also pulled a muscle in my neck and shoulder making it hard to type for long amounts of time.**

 **On the plus side, I'm finally moved into my new apartment. On the downside, my pulled muscle had started to feel much better, but then I re-pulled it trying to catch my cat to take her to the vet again. It's not as bad as it was before though, which is why you're getting a new chapter. :)**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 21**

There was a split second where the entire room was silent enough to hear a pin drop after calling for Dr. Cullen to enter. In that second, I discreetly glanced at Edward to watch his reaction, but his face gave nothing away, until the click of the door knob turning broke the silence, making him flinch and tense up.

The heavy wooden door opened up and my attention quickly turned towards it just as Dr. Cullen walked in while looking down at a clipboard in his hands.

"Hello, Mrs. Black. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. I was just finishing up with a delivery when you checked in," he said without looking up right away. When he finally did, it was with a smile, which quickly fell when he noticed my companion. "Edward! What are you doing here?"

I couldn't sense or hear any form of negativity in his voice when he spoke to his son, only surprise at seeing him here with me.

Edward looked at his father impassively for a moment, and almost as if a switch had been flipped in his brain, his whole attitude suddenly changed and his posture became rigid. I watched as his eyes grew dark and hard as he clenched his jaws before answering. "Long story short, Jazz and I were at Bella's, she needed some help, we brought her here, and she didn't want to be left alone. Does that satisfy your curiosity?" he asked, his tone growing more sarcastic towards the end.

Dr. Cullen let out a small sigh. "It does. But there's no need to be rude. Your presence just took me by surprise, that's all."

Edward glared at him defiantly and muttered, "Whatever."

Taking a deep, calming breath, Dr. Cullen ignored his son's remark and instead turned his attention to me. "According to your chart, you are experiencing very painful muscle contractions, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"On a scale from one to ten, ten being the most painful, how would you rate it?"

"Maybe a six?" It came out sounding more like a question than a statement.

He hummed in response as he wrote down some notes, before turning his pale blue eyes back up to me. "Are you in any pain at this very moment?"

"No."

"I think that's a bit obvious," Edward grumbled under his breath.

Upon hearing his son's comment, Dr. Cullen momentarily lowered his clipboard and shot Edward an exasperated look, his calm professional demeanor starting to crack. I guess it really doesn't take much to get these two men going once they are in the same room with one another.

But in order to prevent any further problems, I was the one who spoke up and chastised Edward for his behavior, before his father could do so and upset him even further. It seemed to work. Edward's posture deflated a little and a pout formed on his face, but he remained quiet. When I glanced back over to the doctor, his eyes conveyed that he knew what I had intended to do and he gave me a very subtle nod as thanks.

The fact that he didn't seem to want to fight with Edward, made me wonder if perhaps he wasn't as bad a person as he's been made out to be. Either that, or he's just as hot and cold as Edward. It was certainly a thought to file away for another time though.

The next thing Dr. Cullen did was scoot his chair over to a cabinet, open it up, and pull out a familiar sterile plastic cup with a lid on it and handed it to me, nodding to the little bathroom attached to the room, and said, "You know the drill."

With a small groan, I took the cup and got off the bed, heading towards the bathroom to do my business. When I came out, a nurse was waiting next to the door to get the cup and take it to get tested.

Once I was settled back in the bed, Dr. Cullen proceeded to question me about my health over the next few minutes, and as they passed by, it was becoming increasingly obvious that Edward was quickly growing bored or uncomfortable, if his sighs and fidgeting were any indication. So finally I decided to have some pity on the poor guy and said, "Edward, I almost forgot. Poor Jasper has been sitting out in the waiting area all by himself this whole time. Why don't you go sit with him for a little bit?"

"Are you sure? Because I can stay if you want," he offered quietly, his voice still laced with some agitation, but I could tell he really wanted to get out of this room.

"Go on. I'll be fine," I told him with a small smile.

He nodded and said, "Okay. I'll be back in a bit though." And with one more glare at his father, he turned and left the room, shutting the door with a little more force than necessary making us both flinch at the sound.

With a heavy sigh that echoed through the hospital room, Dr. Cullen reached up and ran a hand through his light blonde hair in the same manner I've seen Edward do often. With a rueful smile, he said to me, "Normally I'd apologize for his behavior, but with the way you handled him, I'm assuming you are used to it."

"Not really. This is only the second time I've seen him agitated like that," I corrected him.

"Really? He never gives you any problems then?" he asked, his curious blue eyes looking into mine intently as he waited for me to answer him.

With a smile and a shake of my head, I replied, "Nope. Not at all."

After staring at me for another moment, he realized I wasn't going to say any more and he quickly slipped back into doctor mode, just in time for the nurse to come back with my test results and hand them over before leaving again.

Dr. Cullen was silent as he read over the results, and it was making me nervous. "So, what's the verdict? What's wrong with me?"

When he looked up at me, the smile that graced his face set me at ease. "Nothing that can't be fixed, I promise. Your test results show that you are a little bit dehydrated, but otherwise healthy. So, because you are not showing any signs of active labor, my diagnosis is that you are having Braxton Hicks contractions. The fact that you are dehydrated further confirms my diagnosis. It's just one of the many causes that can trigger them."

I frowned at him. "Should I be worried about these things?"

"No. Braxton Hicks are just a temporary thing. They may come and go over the next few days, though, and since it's causing you pain, you can take some baby Tylenol to help. As for the dehydration, I'll have a nurse come in and get you set up with some IV fluids and when that's finished, you can go home. Just make sure to try and drink a little more fluids though, alright?" he asked me with a smile.

"Okay," I replied, returning his smile. "Thank you."

"No problem," he said as he stood up to leave. "Would you like me to send Edward back in?"

"Yes, please. And Jasper. I feel bad for making him sit out there by himself."

"Will do. I'll see you in a bit." And with that, he opened the door and left.

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door and and it opened a crack.

"Bella? It's me."

"Come on in Edward." He pushed the door open the rest of the way and he strolled on through towards the chair closest to me with Jasper following behind him.

After Edward had taken his seat, Jasper took the one next to him and leaned towards me with a smile. "Hey there, Bella. How are you feeling?"

"Kind of the same as before," I replied with a small shrug. "I'm waiting for a nurse to come in and hook me up to an IV for a little while, and then I can go home. I'll need to stop at the pharmacy and pick up some baby Tylenol on the way back though."

"That won't be a problem," Jasper answered.

"So...you're going to be okay, then?" Edward asked me. I look from Jasper to Edward and saw the concern and worry on his face.

I reached over and grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze as I grinned at him. "Yeah. I'm going to be alright."

The smile that spread across his face after I reassured him, was possibly the biggest I've ever seen on him. And the way it transformed the way he looked was magnificent, and my heart beat faster at the sight. I probably would have stared at him a while longer, if I hadn't been hit with another contraction. I closed my eyes and breathed through it and once it was over, I looked back up to Edward's face and to my disappointment, the happy look was gone.

"I hate seeing you in pain," he said softly with a sympathetic look. "Do you want me to go see if they have any baby Tylenol here, so you don't have to wait until we leave to get some?"

I nodded gratefully. "That would be nice. Thank you."

Edward nodded silently and got up and left the room, leaving Jasper and I alone.

"He cares about you," was the first thing he said.

"Of course he does. He's my friend. I care about him, too."

Jasper shook his head at me. "It's more than that. I saw the way he looked at you a few minutes ago. You're special to him."

I looked at him skeptically. "You got that from a look?"

"Not just that one." Jasper looked deep in thought for a moment before going on to explain. "Bella, I've known Edward since we were kids. He's different with you. More...how do I put this? He's more open with his emotions."

"What do you mean?"

"Before he met you, he rarely let his emotions show on his face. It was like he was always wearing a blank mask. Today however, I've seen a whole new person," he explained with a smile. "Heck, I think I lost track of all of the different looks on his face just in the last few hours. It's a good thing."

Japsers smile slowly faded and he let out a small sigh and shake of his head. "That one look though, that was how I know you mean more to him. There's only been one other person that could bring it out."

I swallowed thickly and looked down at my hands. I had a feeling I knew who he was talking about, but I still wanted to hear him say it. "Who was it?" I asked softly, looking back up to his face.

"Edward's high school girlfriend, Tanya."

Tanya.

The girl he told me about the night he confessed to me about his heroin addiction. The one he loved so much, her death caused him so much pain and anguish that he turned to alcohol and drugs to deal with it.

The more I thought about all of this, the more I began to think that maybe Jasper was trying to tell me that Edward loves me. Whether or not that was true, I didn't know.

But for a moment, I let myself believe that it was...and that perhaps I could return his feelings. A sharp kick to my bladder brought me back to reality, and the realization that I just wasn't ready for love yet.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm not a doctor, nor have I ever been pregnant, so if I got anything wrong or missed something in regards to the medical stuff, I'm sorry.**

 **Other than that, how was it?**

 **On a side note, I discovered THE PERFECT SONG to decribe Edward's feelings about himself and Bella. I plan to use it later on, but if you want to hear it, it's called** _ **Save Yourself**_ **by My Darkest Days. Go to Youtube and find the lyric video on VEVO and pay close attention to the words. You'll see what I mean. Maybe you can even let me know what you think of it in relation to this story. :)**

 **While waiting for my neck and shoulder to heal, I read a couple of really great fics that I'd like to rec.**

 **The Blessing and the Curse** **by The Black Arrow -** **By pretending she is falling for Edward, Bella is fulfilling Esme's dying wish. But sexy, possessive Edward can read her mind. Will she ever get into his? Can Bella forget the pain of her teenage years, and can she resist his relentless seduction? AH.**

 **Me and Mr Cullen** **by Catastrophia - It was just a long weekend in Vegas, so how did eighteen year old high school senior Bella Swan end up married to thirty one year old movie exec, Edward Cullen? This is the story of their awkward life.**

 **See you soon! :)**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Hmm. What's this? Another update this week? Hell yeah. The words just flowed out of me this week.**

 **Thanks for reading, reviewing, and favoriting this story. You guys are awesome.**

 **You know what's not awesome though? Trying to give my cat her meds. She's the more laid back of the two, but she turns into a little monster. Good thing she never bites. She just makes a lot of noise. Poor thing. :(**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 22**

When Edward returned with a triumphant smile a few minutes later, I just couldn't find the enthusiasm to return it fully. Not with all of these thoughts running through my head.

With each step he took towards me, his smile faded. Once he was back at my side, he frowned as he studied my face. "What's wrong?" he asked me, looking back and forth between Jasper and myself. "Did something happen while I was gone?"

"Nothing happened. Jasper and I were just talking and he gave me a lot to think about," I told Edward, right before I shot a meaningful look at Jasper, asking him not to say anything.

A sigh of relief left him as he sat back in the chair. "You had me worried there for a second. But I get it. Jasper has a tendency to do that when he talks to people," he said, and then he turned to Jasper and told him, "You should really warn people about that, man."

Jasper chuckled and joked, "I've tried. I just can't help it."

"Yeah, well...try harder."

Jasper held up his hands in surrender. "I'm not making any promises."

Edward playfully rolled his eyes at him before turning his attention back to me. "Anyways, I spoke to one of the nurses at the desk. She'll bring you some baby Tylenol when she comes to put the IV in."

I went to open my mouth to speak, but a yawn escaped instead. "Well I hope she comes soon. I'm starting to get tired."

"It's gotten pretty busy since we first got here, so it might be a little while longer," he told me and I groaned at the informaton.

"Super," I muttered, making them both laugh.

As the minutes ticked by, I could feel myself slowly start to doze off until sleep finally claimed me. What felt like a few seconds later, I heard someone gently call my name.

"Bella? You need to wake up sweetheart."

"Don't want to," I mumbled groggily as I slowly opened my eyes. I heard Jasper and Edward chuckling, but there was also a woman's soft laughter. Standing on the other side of me, was a nurse.

She was an older woman with kind brown eyes and grey hair tied back in a bun. "Hello, honey. I'm sorry to wake you up, but I'm here to give you some Tylenol and set your IV up," she explained as she handed me a small cup with a pill in it and a small cup of water.

"Thank you," I told her gratefully after I took it.

She smiled at me and then went about hanging the bag of clear liquid on a hook. "No problem, dear." She then picked up my hand and cleaned it off with some rubbing alcohol, and then she turned and picked up a small package containing a good sized needle. After taking it out, she looked at me and said, "You might want to look away while I do this."

I decided to take her word for it and turned my head away. "Bella, look into my eyes," Edward ordered. I did as he said and stared into those stunning emerald green eyes that spoke volumes to me now that I knew what I was looking at.

Before I knew it though, the nurse spoke up. "All done!"

I pulled my gaze away from Edward's and saw that the needle was in and now taped to the top of my hand. I didn't even feel a thing. "Wow! You're really good at that."

The nurse laughed and winked at me. "Oh, sweetheart. It wasn't all me. If I had a fella as handsome as yours to look at, I wouldn't feel a thing either," she said, making me blush.

"Oh, uh...he's not...we're not..." I stammered nervously, looking over at Edward, who was also blushing at the nurse's comment, while Jasper watched us with an amused expression.

"Oh my! My apologies," she said quickly, but then she smiled at us again. "Still, he's a handsome man. I may be old, but I'm not blind." We all laughed out loud at that, even Edward. Once we were all done, she said, "Well darlings, I have to go, but if you need anything else, just press the call button and someone will be here shortly." After I thanked her again, she left.

"So, what do you want to do to pass the time?" Jasper asked us. When neither Edward or myself could come up with anything, he stood up and pulled a pack of playing cards out of his pocket. "How about some poker?"

With a grin I asked, "You carry a pack of cards with you?"

"Absolutely," he chuckled. "You have no idea how many times it saved my buddies and I from dying of boredom overseas. It just became a habit, I suppose."

"What did you guys bet?"

Jasper shrugged. "Just about anything. Socks, shaving cream, toilet paper, even ammo."

Edward's eyebrows shot up. "Seriously?"

"It's not like we had a whole lot else to use. We were in the middle of fucking war zones," explained Jasper. He held up the cards and shook them a little. "So...you guys want to play or what?"

"Sure, why not?" Edward said to him before looking over at me. "Bella, how about you?"

I shrugged at him. "I suppose, but I'll probably fall asleep at some point," I warned, and if to prove my point, I yawned loudly.

Over the next half hour, we played a couple hands of poker, before I fell asleep in the middle of my turn. When I woke up a while later, Jasper was gone and Edward was fast asleep with his head resting on his arms on the side of my hospital bed. The sight made me smile and I reached my hand down and gently ran my fingers through his soft bronze locks, making him sigh in his sleep.

I continued to do that for a few minutes when the sound of the doorknob turning caught my attention and I pulled my hand away, waking Edward up in the process. "Hey, you're awake," he said, his voice rough and gravelly from sleep. Before I had the chance to reply, someone else spoke up.

"Looks like you both are now," Dr. Cullen said as he stepped inside the room, walking over to me. "How are you feeling, Mrs. Black?"

"A bit better, actually," I answered him.

"That's good. It looks like your IV bag is empty, so I'll get you discharged very shortly, and then I'll take you two home."

I looked up at him in surprise. "I'm sorry? Did you just say you're taking us home?"

Dr. Cullen opened his mouth to speak, but this time Edward beat him to it. "I told Jasper he could take my car and go home, so my dad offered to drive us back to your house when he stopped in earlier. I hope you don't mind?"

I shook my head at him, "Not at all. Are you staying at my place then?"

He nodded at me. "Yeah. That way, Jasper can just drive my car over in the morning, and I can drive him home later on," he explained.

"Now that you know the plans, let's get take this IV taken out," Dr. Cullen suggested as he walked over to a cabinet and grabbed a large bandage and set it next to me. He then slowly peeled the tape off my hand and pulled the needle out, and gently placed the bandage over the spot. "There you go. I'm going to go get those discharge papers for you now. You can go ahead and get dressed while I'm gone."

"Okay. Thanks." As soon as he left the room, I got up and grabbed my clothes from the countertop and made my way into the bathroom to change. When I came back out, I went and sat back down on the bed.

"Are you sure you're okay with me staying tonight?"

"Edward, I told you it's fine. In fact, it makes me feel a little better knowing I won't be alone after everything that went on tonight."

"That's what I figured," he told me as he stood up and stretched before running his fingers through his hair to try and tame it a little.

It didn't work. It was still sticking up all over the place. I chuckled and beckoned him closer. "Come here. Let me see if I can make you look a little less wild."

"Good luck," he sighed, but he leaned down so I could style it using my fingers. As I did so, he hummed in appreciation. "Hmm. That feels nice," he whispered softly, his eyes closing for a moment, and when they opened back up they were darker than before, and filled with desire.

The air around us suddenly shifted, and as I gazed into Edward's eyes, I saw his drift down to my mouth and then back up to my eyes. Ever so slowly, his face moved closer to mine. I knew what he wanted to do and I was glad I wasn't hooked up to a heart moniter, as it would surely give away how fast my heart was beating.

When his face was less than an inch from mine, he whispered ever so softly, "Bella. May I kiss you?" I could feel his breath on my lips as he asked, and I was overcome with the need to feel his lips on mine.

So I said yes.

In less than a second, he gently brushed his warm lips over mine as one of his hands reached up and cradled the back of my neck as he pulled me a little closer. I kissed him back, and for the next minute or two, our mouths continued to move over each other's. The only sounds in the room were our heavy breathing and soft moans.

Until the click of the doorknob turning echoed through the room, and in a flash, Edward's lips left mine and he was back in his seat, trying to look normal. His father walked in with some papers attached to a clipboard in one hand a small bottle in the other.

As he approached, he glanced between the two of us, almost as if he knew what we had just been doing, but he never said a word about it. Instead, he handed me the clipboard and then pulled a pen from his front pocket and gave it to me. "All you have to do is sign your name in the areas highlighted, and I can go get it filed away." I did as he said, and then he handed me the small bottle he had in his other hand. "I got you a bottle of baby Tylenol to take home, since the pharmacy in town in most likely closed by now."

"Thank you. I really appreciate this, Dr. Cullen."

He smiled at me, and replied, "You are more than welcome. I'll be back in minute." He turned around and quickly left the room, this time leaving the door open, and once again left Edward and I alone.

Neither one of us spoke though. I wouldn't say it was because things felt awkward now. It was more like a thoughtful silence.

Before long, Dr. Cullen was back, this time with a wheelchair and I groaned. "Sorry. Hospital policy."

"That's just awesome," I muttered sarcastically as I got up and walked over to the chair and sat down in it.

About ten minutes later, we were in Dr. Cullen's car and on the way to my house...finally. After pulling into the driveway, I thanked the good doctor again, and he bid us goodnight before leaving to go home.

Edward helped me up the porch steps and I unlocked the front door and let us inside. After hanging up our coats and taking our shoes off, we just kind of stood there at looking at each other, not really sure what to say, but at the same time, having so much to talk about. But I think after all that happened today, that we really needed to get some rest before we talk about what happened earlier with the kiss.

So I broke the silence first to tell him that.

"Edward," I said softly. "I think we need to talk about what happened between us, but not tonight. I'm pretty exhausted."

He sighed heavily at my words, probably thinking I regret our kiss, so I leaned up and gently kissed him on the lips real quick to let him know we were okay, and he relaxed. "We'll talk tomorrow, okay?"

He gave me a small nod and a smile. "Okay. Goodnight, Bella. If you need anything, wake me up."

"I will. Goodnight, Edward. I'll see you in the morning." I watched him walk towards the guest bedroom in the opposite end of the house, and then I turned and made my way to my own bedroom and got changed into my favorite pajamas, before climbing into bed and falling asleep with thoughts of dark, lust filled eyes and warm lips on my mind.

* * *

 **A/N: Yeah, so they finally kissed. :)**

 **I don't have much more to add, other than I'm excited about going to see _The Lost City of Z_ on Tuesday. I heard it's really good.**

 **I'm not sure when I'll get the next update to you. I want to say sometime in the next week or two, but who knows what will happen?**

 **The more reviews and feedback I get, the more inspired I am to write. ;)**


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: Hi everyone. Thanks for all of the reviews, favorites, and follows. :)**

 **I don't know if anyone has noticed, but I made a new banner for this story. It's nothing super fancy, but it's better than the old one. :)**

 **On another note, I got to see** _ **The Lost City of Z**_ **last week with my aunt. Halfway through the movie she leaned over and asked, "Who is that one guy? He looks familiar." I then had to explain that it was Robert Pattinson from** _ **Twilight**_ **, and she was like, "No wonder you wanted to see it!" LOL. That wasn't the only reason I wanted to see it though. I'm a bit of a history buff. ;)**

 **Anyways, on to the story.**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 23**

I woke up the next morning feeling more exhausted than I did before I went to sleep. I got at least a few hours worth, but once the Tylenol wore off I found it harder to stay asleep because I was uncomfortable. Thankfully though, the Braxton Hicks contractions have lessened in their frequency overnight, so I guess I'm one of the lucky ones and don't have to deal with them for days, but they were still painful when they did occur.

After awhile, I stopped trying to fall back asleep and just laid there on my side staring at the wall, thinking about what I was going to say to Edward.

There was no denying now that there was something more between us, but despite that...I still wasn't sure I was ready to be more than friends. At least not now, anyways. It would just be too soon. It's barely been three months since Jake died, and I know he would want me to be happy, but I think even he would cringe at the idea of starting a romantic relationship with someone so soon if the tables had been turned.

Plus, the timing really isn't that great either. My baby girl is due in about ten weeks and will take up all of my time once she finally arrives. And at the same time, Edward is going to be busy with his band, once it's completed anyways.

And then we have to factor in that we hardly know each other.

Before I start overthinking things, I have to know how Edward feels about what happened, and what it is he wants to do about it. Only then can we figure this thing out.

Rolling over to my other side to try and get more comfortable, I quickly give up and get up to go use the bathroom. After I'm finished, I go and grab one of my fluffy robes from my closet and put it on before opening my bedroom door and stepping out into the hallway.

My nose immediately picks up the smell of food cooking and it makes my stomach rumble, so I quickly make my way towards the source. When I reach the kitchen, I find I'm in for a real treat this morning.

And I'm not just talking about the various breakfast foods already setting on the countertops to cool.

No. I'm talking about the fact that Edward is standing at my stove humming to some song I can't identify as he cooks, in nothing but his jeans.

He's facing away from me and doesn't know I'm there, so I take the opportunity to commit this sight to my memory.

I take in the way the muscles in his shoulders and back ripple with each movement he makes, and as my gaze moves over him, I catch small glimpses of ink near the insides of both of his arms, but I can't tell what they are of. My curiosity is piqued and I slowly begin to inch forward, hoping to get a better look.

But before I can get too close, my stomach growls loudly, alerting Edward to my presence, and he whipped around with a look of surprise on his face.

"Bella! I thought you were still asleep?"

I smiled widely at him and walked towards him. "Not anymore. What have you got here?" I asked as I looked at the food.

"Um, chocolate chip pancakes, scrambled eggs, toast, and I've got some bacon frying on the stove...which I need to get back to."

"Well by all means, get to it," I chuckled as I shooed him back towards the hot stove. I went and leaned against the counter as I watched him flip the bacon over in the pan and listened to it hiss and sizzle. "Mmm. This all smells so good. I can't wait to eat it."

Edward turned his head and grinned at me. "Thanks. This will be done in just a minute." Then he paused for a moment as though he remembered something. "Oh, and I hope you don't mind that I took my shirt off. I got really warm from standing over the stove and I didn't want to mess with your thermostat. I'll put it back on when I'm done."

I don't mind at all. In fact, I kind of don't want him to put his shirt back on, but I probably shouldn't tell him that. Besides, it's in our best interests to have him cover up. After that wonderful kiss last night, and my unpredictable hormones, I'd rather not take my chances and risk doing something we'd both regret. In the end, all I could think of to say was, "Okay."

His grin grew even wider after hearing that I wasn't upset with him for being half naked in my kitchen, and he went back to watching the bacon.

Once the bacon was done, he piled it on a plate and turned the stove off before turning around and grabbing his shirt and slipping it on. Then he picked up the plate of bacon and grabbed another plate and carried them into the dining room. A moment later, he was back for the other plates of food. I grabbed two glasses out of a cabinet and the jug of milk from the fridge and followed him into the dining room, setting the items down on the table, before taking my seat.

After Edward sat down across from me, he said, "Dig in."

He didn't have to tell me twice. As soon as the first bite of food entered my mouth, I moaned. "Oh my god. This is so good."

"Yeah?"

I nodded my head vigorously. "This is seriously some of the best food I've ever tasted."

"Glad you like it," he replied after he took a bite. We conversed a little more, but not a whole lot. Edward and I were more interested in enjoying our delicious breakfast.

A few minutes later, we finished eating, and I just had to know what the deal was with the food.

"So...not that I'm complaining or anything, but why did you do this?" I asked as I gestured to our empty plates.

Edward shifted uncomfortably in his seat and ran his hand through his unruly hair before he answered me. "I uh, needed a distraction."

"A distraction? From what?" I asked in confusion.

"My cravings," he admitted quietly. "The urge to use is really strong in the morning after I wake up."

"Oh. Are...are you okay now?" I asked him carefully. I didn't know if talking about it would make him feel worse. We haven't spoken about his addiction again since he first told me about it.

He sighed and shook his head. "It's not so bad now, but the urge is always there. Keeping myself busy helps though, and this is what I do when I'm at home in the mornings."

I hated seeing him so down, so I decided to try and cheer him up a bit. "Well, not to make light of the situation or anything, but feel free to come over here anytime you feel like cooking," I gently teased him.

That managed to coax a tiny hint of a smile from him. "You really liked it that much, huh?"

I looked at him as though he were insane for thinking otherwise. "Absolutely! I think the baby did, too. She's currently kicking like crazy," I told him with a laugh as I rubbed little circles on my belly, trying to calm her down.

"What does it feel like?" Edward asked me softly with his head cocked to the side and his eyes full of curiosity.

"At the moment? It feels like my insides are being used as a punching bag or those padded things that kickboxers practice with," I joked, sort of. I got up and walked around to his side of the table and took the seat next to him. "Would you like to feel her kick?"

His eyes grew wide at my question and he glanced down to my stomach and stared at it as he opened and closed his mouth a few times, unable to decide what to do, which made me laugh. "It's okay, Edward. It's not going to bite."

His gaze finally moved back up to my face and he answered me, but he still sounded unsure. "Um...I guess. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable, though."

I smiled at him. "I don't mind. I'm kind of used to having people touch my stomach." It was true. Although, I really hated when random strangers wanted to do it. That's just weird.

I picked up his hand and placed it where I felt the baby kick before and held it there for a minute. "I don't feel anything."

"Just give her a moment and she will."

About a minute later, she kicked right under Edward's hand. His green eyes shot up to my face and he grinned widely. "I felt that! Wow. That's just..."

"Really cool?" I finished for him.

He chuckled and nodded his head. "Yeah." He looked back down at my stomach and shook his head in wonder. "Now I get what all the fuss is about," he said as the baby kicked his hand again.

I stared at him as he looked on in amazement, and then for no apparent reason, I watched as the happy look on his face suddenly changed to one of sadness, and he pulled his hand away from me.

I frowned at him. "What's wrong?"

Edward shrugged his shoulders and shook his head at me, turning his head away so he couldn't meet my eyes. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure?" I asked him, wanting to make sure he was okay. "You know you can tell me anything."

When he did look at me, I wasn't expecting the look of anger on his face. "I said it was nothing, Bella! Just drop it, okay!" he snapped at me, making me flinch and lean back in my chair. I nodded silently, not wanting to upset him further, but it didn't seem to matter to him at that moment. He shoved his chair back and stood up, but didn't move away from me. "Why is it that you always have to know what I'm thinking or feeling? Can't I just keep shit to myself for a change?" he shouted at me.

I wasn't sure if he really wanted me to answer him, so I kept silent and tried my best to stay calm. It wasn't easy, but I knew that lashing back at him would only make things worse.

But that plan flew out the window with what he said to me next.

"Fuck! Is this what you were like with your husband? Constantly nagging him about what was going through his head at every single moment?"

I couldn't keep the gasp from escaping from my mouth and I shot out of my chair, standing so I was face to face with him. With angry tears now streaming down my cheeks, I looked him right in the eyes as I told him, "Fuck you, Edward! How dare you say something like that to me?"

I didn't want to listen to anything else he had to say, nor did I want to be around him right now, so I quickly turned around and stalked out of the dining room without sparing him another glance, and as I passed through the kitchen, I spotted my cell phone laying on the countertop where I had left it the night before in our haste to get to the hospital. I went over and grabbed it, and then I headed to my bedroom, closing the door behind me and locking it.

I walked over to my bed and sat down on it, reaching towards my nightstand to grab my phone charger so I could plug my phone in. I haven't tried to turn it on yet, but chances are it's either dead or about to be.

A minute after it was plugged in, the screen on my phone lit up and showed that I had a few missed texts from my friends and family. They weren't super important though, so I didn't feel the need to reply right away, but I'd have to do it soon so they don't worry.

However, right now I didn't really feel like doing anything other than lay down and hope that when I wake, everything will be better.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, the morning didn't go as Bella had planned. She also got another taste of what it's like to be on Edward's bad side.**

 **I'd like to clear up that Bella didn't do anything wrong to set him off though. Sometimes there's no real rhyme or reason as to what can set someone with ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) off. I should know. I was diagnosed with it as a small child and struggle with it everyday. One of the examples I like to use is that, sometimes all it takes to set me off is just the sound of my name being called by my mom. I can't really explain why...it just does.**

 **I don't have an idea of when the next chapter will be up, but I'm hoping that it will be within the next two weeks.**

 **See you soon!**


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: Thank you for the all of the reviews, follows, and favorites.**

 **People seem to be concerned about what's going on with Edward now, so I thought I'd do a chapter from his viewpoint. :)**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

The secret side of me  
I never let you see  
I keep it caged  
But I can't control it  
So stay away from me  
The beast is ugly  
I feel the rage  
And I just can't hold it

It's scratching on the walls  
In the closet, in the halls  
It comes awake  
And I can't control it  
Hiding under the bed  
In my body, in my head  
Why won't somebody come and save me from this?  
Make it end!

I feel it deep within,  
It's just beneath the skin  
I must confess that I feel like a monster  
I hate what I've become  
The nightmare's just begun  
I must confess that I feel like a monster  
I, I feel like a monster  
I, I feel like a monster

 **"Monster" by Skillet**

* * *

 **Chapter 24 **

**EPOV**

As I watched Bella walk away from me with tears streaming down her face, the sudden rage that overcame me faded away and was quickly replaced with the feeling of absolute horror.

It began to feel as though all of the air had been sucked out of the room, and I couldn't breathe as I began to panic.

 _Oh god. What the hell have I done?_ I thought, as I sunk down onto a chair and cradled my head in my hands as I tried to calm my breathing.

I've been trying so hard to keep myself under control around Bella, but something like this was inevitable. It was going to happen eventually. It always does.

There's no cure for this disorder I have, and it's very difficult to deal with...especially since the things that trigger it vary from day to day, and can be anything, or nothing at all.

On the plus side, it rarely presents itself outside of my parent's presence. _Rarely_ being the key word.

Growing up, it seemed like everything my parents did or didn't do pissed me off, which would then lead to arguing and shouting, and then things would go to shit. Actually, it's still like that. I don't want it to be, but I can't fix it. How can I, when I don't even know what the fuck causes it? It fucking sucks.

It's never my intention to lash out at people or say hurtful things, I honestly just can't help it. And that's something that's extremely hard for others to understand.

Shit! It's hard for _me_ to understand at times.

I just really hope that Bella can, and that she can forgive me for the things I said to her...even if I don't deserve it. If anything, I need to at least let her know that she did nothing wrong.

One moment, I was feeling a baby kick for the first time in my life, and it was an incredible thing to experience. But then my mind started wandering and for some reason, I began to think about how this was something Bella should have been sharing with her husband, not me. And it suddenly felt wrong to do it, so I pulled my hand away.

I saw the look of concern on her face as she asked me what was wrong, and it just really got on my nerves. I don't even know why. It just did.

And then I snapped. I lost control of the beast I tried so desperately to keep contained within me and said things I will forever regret. I have no idea where those words even came from, but I don't really care. The last thing I want to do is try and make excuses to make myself feel better. Not that it would anyways.

But the ever present tingling sensation pricking at the insides of my arms reminds me that there _is_ something that would make me feel better. A little bit of that golden liquid flowing through my veins would be just the thing to make me forget how much of a monster I am for hurting someone I've grown to care deeply about.

 _I can't turn back to that shit, though. Not this time. But I want to. Badly._

I shake my head back and forth, trying to erase these thoughts as I stand up and pace the room a few times, absently rubbing my arms. I need to distract myself again.

I look over at the empty plates and glasses on the table and decide to clean everything up and put it all away. I know it's nowhere near enough to get her to forgive me, but it's just one little thing I can do to try and make it up to Bella and it will also allow me to focus on something else for a little bit.

I finished up my task about ten minutes later, and made my way to the studio. When I stepped inside, I made a beeline right for my guitar.

As I sat down and picked it up, the coolness of the wood in my hands and the familiar weight of the instrument comforted me. With a sigh, I closed my eyes and began to pluck and strum the strings, feeling them vibrate beneath my fingers as I played, letting the music consume me.

I played until my fingers began to cramp, forcing me to take a break, and when I looked up at the clock, I was shocked to see that I'd been at it for almost three hours. I carefully set my guitar down onto it's stand and stood up to stretch my legs.

I felt much more relaxed than I had before, and I figured now would be a good time to check on Bella and try to apologize to her...or perhaps get down on my knees and beg for her forgiveness. I'd do whatever it takes to fix things between us. I opened the door and stepped into the hallway, closing the door to the studio behind me. I passed by Bella's craft room, hoping she'd be in there, but it was empty, so I continued on to the living room.

As I neared it though, the sound of voices carried through the halls, but I couldn't make out what was being said until I moved closer. I recognized the voices as belonging to Bella and Jasper and was about to step around the corner into the room when I heard my name being mentioned, making me stop and back up so I couldn't be seen as I eavesdropped. I know it was wrong of me to do, but I was curious to hear what they were saying about me.

"Does it always happen that quickly? I mean, it was like he went from zero to sixty in an instant," Bella said.

"Pretty much," I heard Jasper answer honestly. "But the more time you spend with him, the more you'll learn to notice little warning signs letting you know when to back off or leave him be."

"Like what?"

"Well...sometimes he'll appear to be a little more grumpier than usual, or his posture will be more tense."

"Oh. I didn't notice anything like that earlier. He seemed fine...happy even...and then he wasn't. I didn't mean to make him upset, I just got concerned," she said quietly. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the wall, feeling like even more of an asshole after hearing that.

I heard Jasper sigh and I knew that whatever he was about to say was going to be important.

"Bella, look at me," he told her gently. "I can guarantee that whatever set him off wasn't your fault."

"How can you be so sure of that, Jasper?"

"Because I've been there. Hell, those of us closest to Edward have all experienced his bad side at least a few times. You shouldn't take it personally."

I heard Bella huff angrily. "He made it very personal, Jasper. His words...they hit me really hard."

"Bella, I know it's none of my business, but do you mind telling me what it was exactly that Edward said to you that bothered you so much?"

I heard her take a deep breath before she answered him. "For starters, he basically accused me of always being in his business and always asking how he felt about stuff." She paused for a short moment, probably to collect herself, before she spoke again. "Then he asked me if I that was what I was like with my husband. If I constantly nagged him him about what was going through his head all the time."

Jasper inhaled sharply and muttered, "Oh, shit."

"Yeah," she agreed. "But you know what? I kind of was, in a way...but I had to be. Jake...he had a brain tumor. He was diagnosed with it before I found out I was pregnant, and it couldn't be removed. As he got worse over time, I had to know how he was feeling in order to help him manage stuff. That's why Edward's comment bothered me so much." When she finished explaining to Jasper, it sounded like she was crying again, and I suddenly felt sick to my stomach at how much weight my words had actually carried without even knowing it.

 _I truly am a monster._ And with that thought, I made a mad dash to the bathroom just in time for my breakfast to make a reappearance.

* * *

 **A/N: How was it? When I started writing this story, I hadn't planned on doing any EPOV's, but I felt it was kind of necessary at least for this part. I don't plan on doing any more, but we'll see.**

 **I felt that the song 'Monster' by Skillet was the best song to describe how Edward feels a lot of the time.**

 **See you soon!**


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Hi, everyone. If you saw the Author's Note I posted the other day, you know I've got a lot going in RL. There will be a little more about that at the bottom, but for now, I finished this chapter for you. :)**

 **Also, if you didn't see the A/N and are wondering what I'm talking about, I've already deleted it, so as not to interrupt the flow of my story.**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 25**

 **BPOV**

The sound of my stomach rumbling roused me from my sleep. Well, that and my baby girl seemingly doing somersaults inside of my belly. Cracking open my eyes, I groaned at the light streaming in through my window, making my aching head throb even more, and I rolled over to face away from it before sitting upright.

Wondering what time it was, I picked up my phone and turned it on to check, and found out I'd been asleep for a few hours. I also saw I had a new text message from Sam.

 _ **Hey, B. I haven't heard back from you yet and I'm getting a bit concerned. Give me a call or text me to let me know you're okay. - Sam**_

I was just about to send him a reply when I was hit with the sudden urge to pee, so I dropped my phone onto my bed and raced into the bathroom. When I was finished, I stepped over to the sink to wash my hands and caught sight of myself in the mirror.

I looked as horrible as I felt. My hair was sticking up on one side of my head from rubbing on my pillow and my eyes were red-rimmed and puffy from crying. After I washed my hands, I took some baby Tylenol for my headache and brushed my hair so I at least looked somewhat normal. Then I went back into my bedroom, sat down on my bed, and snatched my phone up.

I sat there for a minute, wondering how I should reply to Sam's text, when my phone started ringing and his name and picture popped up.

I pressed 'ACCEPT' and answered his call. "Hey, Sam. I was just about to answer your text."

 _"Well it's about time! It isn't like you to not reply to people's messages, Bella. I was really worried about you,"_ he scolded me, but I could also hear the relief in his voice as he did so.

I sighed heavily into the phone. "I know. I'm really sorry about that. I had a bit of a rough night." _And a rough morning,_ I added silently to myself.

 _"What happened?"_

"I had to be taken to the hospital last night," I told him smoothly, hoping he wouldn't freak out too much.

 _"What? Why? Are you and the baby alright?"_ he shouted into the phone frantically.

"Sam, calm down. We're both fine," I said soothingly. "I started having these pains in my abdomen and I didn't know what was happening, so Edward and his friend were kind enough to take me to the hospital where I was then told I was having Braxton Hicks contractions brought on by some minor dehydration," I explained to him.

 _"That sounds serious. Are you sure the two of you are both okay?"_

"It's really not that serious. And yes, we're both fine. They gave me some fluids and Tylenol, and sent me home a while later. I didn't sleep too great, but the pain and contractions stopped, so that's good."

I heard him sigh heavily, letting me know he was upset about something. _"That's a huge relief, Bella, but now that I know this...I really wish you would have called me, or anyone else for that matter and filled them in. What if this had been something much more serious?"_

I stood up and started to pace back and forth inside of my room while holding my phone to my ear in one hand and the other supporting my lower back. "I get what you're saying, Sam. Really, I do, and if that had been the case, I would have let someone know, but it wasn't," I said seriously. With a small sigh I added, "Besides, I ended up forgetting my phone at home anyways, so I didn't have much of a choice. But if it makes you feel better, I wasn't alone at all. Edward and Jasper kept me company in the hospital, and then Edward spent the night here in case I needed anything."

I was met with utter silence from the other end of the line. After not hearing anything for about 30 seconds, I pulled my phone from my ear to look at it to make sure the call hadn't dropped. The screen showed that the call was still going though, so that wasn't the problem.

"Sam? Are you still there?" I asked as I put the phone back to my ear.

I heard him clear his throat and he said, _"Um, yeah. I'm still here."_ He paused and then carefully asked, _"So, um...this_ Edward _guy stayed over, huh?"_

"Yeah."

 _"Well, that was nice of him...I guess."_

"Edward is a nice guy." Most of the time.

 _"I guess so,"_ he murmured quietly. I heard someone calling his name and he sighed. _"I have to get going. One of my clients just showed up. Would it be alright if I stopped by later?"_ Knowing Sam as well as I do, I knew that actually meant 'I need to see for myself that you're okay.'

"Yeah, that's fine," I agreed, though truthfully I didn't really want much company today, but I also missed my best friend.

 _"Great!"_ Sam replied, sounding more cheerful. _"Do you want me to bring you anything?"_

"No, I'm all good."

 _"Okay, I'll see you then. Bye, Bella."_

"Bye, Sam." I hung up my phone and left the comfort of my bedroom to find something to snack on in the kitchen.

I eventually settled on an apple and some peanut butter, so I grabbed a knife and a spoon from the utensil drawer and a paper plate from the cabinet. I sliced the apple up into wedges and then scooped a plentiful amount of peanut butter onto the plate, and then I made my way into the living room to plant myself on the sofa and watch tv.

I was about halfway through an episode of Ghost Adventures when my doorbell rang. I got up and answered the door, finding Jasper on the other side with a bright smile on his face.

"Hi, Jasper. Come on in." I stepped aside to allow him into the house.

"Thanks. How are you feeling today?"

I smiled at him and answered, "Much better. Thank you for asking."

"I'm glad to hear it." He looked at me for a moment with his baby blue eyes and cocked his head to the side a little. "You look like you've been crying, though."

I ducked my head and sighed, "Yeah, well...that had nothing to do with my health, and everything to do with Edward."

Jasper's eyes widened in suprise and then he shook his head and groaned, "Oh, man. What did he do this time?" I was about to answer him when he said, "Wait! On second thought, you don't have to tell me. It's none of my business."

I nodded in agreement. "You're right, but...I don't know...you've known him for a long time right?"

He looked at me curiously, probably wondering where I was going with this. "Yeah, since we were kids," he answered slowly.

"Maybe if I tell you what happened, you could give me some insight on why Edward acted the way he did?"

He shrugged a shoulder at me and said, "I could _try_ , but I can't guarantee anything."

"That's better than nothing, though." I led him into the living room and once we were both seated, I began to explain to him what transpired earlier this morning. He answered some of my questions and gave me some helpful tips on how to judge Edward's moods.

"Oh. I didn't notice anything like that earlier. He seemed fine...happy even...and then he wasn't. I didn't mean to make him upset, I just got concerned," I told him quietly.

Jasper sighed heavily and said, "Bella, look at me." When I did, he continued. "I can guarantee that whatever set him off wasn't your fault."

"How can you be so sure of that, Jasper?"

He then went on to explain that he and pretty much everyone who knows Edward personally has experienced similar outbursts from him before and that I shouldn't take it personally.

That really upset me. "He made it very personal, Jasper. His words...they hit me really hard."

Jasper leaned forward in his seat and kindly asked, "Bella, I know it's none of my business, but do you mind telling me what it was exactly that Edward said to you that bothered you so much?" I repeated to him what Edward said to me about my Jake, and to say Jasper was shocked was an understatement. "Oh, shit!"

"Yeah," I agreed. "But you know what? I kind of was, in a way...but I had to be. Jake...he had a brain tumor. He was diagnosed with it before I found out I was pregnant, and it couldn't be removed. As he got worse over time, I had to know how he was feeling in order to help him manage stuff. That's why Edward's comment bothered me so much," I cried, not even trying to hide my fresh tears.

Through my blurry eyes I saw Jasper lean over and grab the box of tissues I kept on the coffee table and held it out to me. But just as I went to grab a tissue, the door to the guest bathroom suddenly slammed shut, making us both flinch and turn towards the noise, and then the faint sounds of someone vomiting could be heard.

Jasper turned to me with raised eyebrows and a grimace. "I'm assuming that's Edward in there puking his guts out right now?"

I frowned along with him. "I'm afraid so. I hope he didn't catch something from the hospital last night."

"I suppose it's possible," he said as he glanced back towards the bathroom. There was something in his voice that made me believe that's not what he thought, though. He stood up from the couch and nodded in Edward's direction. "I better go check on him and see if he's alright."

"Of course. Tell Edward that there is a brand new bottle of mouthwash and some disposable cups in the medicine cabinet that he can use if he wants."

"Will do," he nodded. "If I need anything else, I'll let you know."

"Okay." Jasper left to take care of Edward and I turned my attention back to the tv. There was a different episode of Ghost Adventures on now, but I couldn't get into watching it. My mind kept wandering back to the two men in the bathroom. I could faintly hear their muffled voices as they talked back and forth for a few minutes, and then I could hear Edward throwing up again and the toilet flush afterwards.

After hearing that happen again, I couldn't help myself. I needed to go and see if there was anything I could do to help, so I got up ad started walked towards the guest bathroom. But before I reach it, the door opened and Jasper stepped out, followed by a very pale looking Edward.

"Hey," I said to them with a small smile. "I was just coming to check on things." I looked over at Edward and gently asked, "How are you feeling?"

He huffed and glared at me. "I've just spent the last ten minutes throwing up. Take a wild guess."

I recoiled at the harshness of his words. I opened my mouth to say something to him, but closed it, choosing not to upset him further. Instead, I turned around and walked back to the living room and took my place on the sofa again. It took an awful lot of willpower to do that and not go back and smack him on the head for being a jerk to me when I was trying to be nice.

A moment later, I heard the both of them walk past the living room towards the front door, but then one of them walked back in my direction. Looking away from the tv screen, I saw Jasper round the corner and enter the room, coming over to stand next to me, with a rueful grin on his face. "I'm gonna take Edward home. He's not in any shape to be around people right now." I nodded at his assessment of the situation. "I was wondering though, if you would mind me coming back over here? I could make use of the alone time to re-familiarize myself with the various sound equipment and music software in the studio."

"That's fine. I'm having a friend over later, but we won't bother you."

"Thanks," he grinned.

"Jasper! Let's go!" Edward hollared from the front door.

Jasper rolled his eyes and said, "I better go now, before he decides to throw a hissy fit. I'll see you later, Bella."

"Bye, Jasper. Good luck."

"I'll need it," he joked, and then he turned and walked back to Edward, and a moment later they both left.

An hour later, Jasper returned.

We chatted for a bit about this and that, and before he got up to go do his thing in the studio, I asked him how Edward was doing.

"He's pretty miserable right now, but he'll be fine." Just like earlier, I got the feeling that he wasn't telling me something important, and while I was willing to let it go the first time, I wasn't going to do it again.

I looked Jasper in the eyes and said, "I've noticed that you are very good at reading people, Jasper, but so am I. What aren't you telling me?" His blue eyes widened for the briefest moment, and I knew that I was correct in my assumption. "I want the truth this time."

Jasper sighed heavily and reached up to rub the back of his neck nervously. "I'm not trying to be disrespectful, Bella. I like you. You're a very kind, caring person. And I can see that you care a lot about Edward. So, because of that I'll tell you what's really going on with Edward right now, but you can't let on that you know, okay?"

I nodded my head at him.

"Good. Edward's not really sick...well he is, but not in the way that you think." I gave him a very confused look and he explained further. "He didn't catch something from the hospital. He made himself sick."

"He made himself sick?" I repeated, wondering what he meant. Then I thought about the fact that Edward was vomiting and came to one conclusion. "You mean he...?" I made a gesture of of sticking my finger down my throat and made a gagging sound.

Jasper looked horrified at where my mind had gone. "What? No! Nothing like that. Sometimes he gets himself so worked up after one of his 'incidents' that he actually becomes physically sick."

"Oh," I replied slowly, finally understanding what he was trying to say. "Now I get it."

"Like I said before, though. He'll be just fine. Edward just needs a little time to deal with stuff."

I thanked him for telling me this information and let him go get to work. I then spent the next four hours watching tv, and working on some sketches until Sam arrived with a big grin on his face.

I was really happy to spend time with my best friend again, although I did have a rather serious conversation with him about his overprotectiveness. He agreed to tone things back a bit, which made me very happy, but for his own peace of mind, he did ask me if it would be alright to meet the people that would be using the studio.

I told him that would be fine, so when Jasper was about to go home a while later, Sam stopped him and introduced himself and talked to him for a few minutes before he actually realized that he kind of already knew Jasper. To my amusement, it turns out that Jasper had sold Sam some weed once when we were teenagers at one of the parties held at First Beach up in La Push. We all had a good laugh over that, and then Jasper left.

Sam stayed for another hour before he decided that it was time for him to also leave. He had a big tattoo job to do the next morning, so he wanted to get home and get plenty of sleep. After he left, I decided to make myself something to eat and then turn in for the night. It had been a pretty eventful day, and I was exhausted.

But before I went to sleep, I wondered if Edward was doing any better. I picked up my phone and pulled up his number and sent him a quick text.

 **I was just wondering if you were feeling any better and wanted to wish you a goodnight. - Bella**

I waited to see of he would reply, but after about five minutes I gave up, thinking that maybe he was already asleep. And when I woke up the next morning and checked my phone to see if he answered my text, I was disappointed to find out he hadn't.

But I was even more disappointed and hurt when I didn't hear from him at all for two weeks after that.

* * *

 **A/N: What did you think?**

 **As mentioned above, I completed this chapter earlier than I thought I would. It was already more than halfway done, so I pushed myself to get it done since I don't know when my next update will be.**

 **I dropped my cat off at the vet earlier today, and she will be having her surgery in the morning. If all goes well, I'll try and see how much time I'll be able to put into writing the next chapter while my cat is recovering, but right now, I'm not sure.**

 **I also want to thank everyone for their kind thoughts and well wishes. I truly appreciate every one of them.**

 **Hopefully, I'll see you all soon! :)**


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: Hey everyone. How's it going?**

 **So I've got good news. My cat's surgery was successful. The vet removed 12 bladder stones from her, so she's feeling much better. She still has a minor infection from before her surgery, so we're working to get that cleared up, but is otherwise okay.**

 **I've been working on this chapter periodically over the past week and a half, and just finished it today. I apologize beforehand for any mistakes, my mind has obviously been elsewhere.**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 26**

 **BPOV**

 **Two Weeks Later**

I was in the middle of finishing up a pizza when my cell phone buzzed on the counter with an incoming text message. I leaned over and glanced down at it, hoping that it was Edward, but it wasn't. It was Sue, checking in on things. I quickly wiped my hands off on a paper towel and replied to her, letting her know things were going well.

I still haven't heard anything from Edward, or Jasper for that matter, and I was feeling a bit hurt about it. But more than that, I was lonely. I had gotten used to always having someone around over the years, whether it was Jake or one of the other guys, or someone else. And aside from being taken to my appointments, I was alone all of last week, and I didn't enjoy it at all.

When I spoke to the guys earlier in the week, I learned that they all had a day off of work coming up, and invited them over for a movie day, something we hadn't done in quite awhile.

So here I was, in my kitchen making a couple of pizzas, because all of the snacks had already been devoured and the men were still hungry. I'm glad I had the foresight to buy a couple of pre-made pizza crusts, so all I had to do is add the sauce, cheese, and other toppings before popping them in the oven to bake.

But at 32 weeks into my pregnancy and with about 8 more to go, doing something as simple as that is growing increasingly difficult to manage as I continue to tire easily with time.

"Hey, Bells. Need any help with that stuff?" Seth asked as he walked into the kitchen. He was just in time.

I looked up at my brother and smiled at him. "Actually, yes. Do you mind making up that other pizza there, and then putting them both in the oven for me? I really need to go sit down. My back and feet are killing me," I said as I finished adding the toppings to the first one.

"Sure, no problem." He got started on his task, and after I thanked him and began to walk away, his cell phone vibrated with an incoming text. He pulled it out of his pocket, glanced at it, and groaned in annoyance before putting it away.

"What was that about?" I asked curiously.

"That was Leah. She wanted to know if she could borrow some money from me, but I'm ignoring her. I told her not to ask me again after the last time," he huffed, opening the jar of pizza sauce and spreading it on the crust with a large spoon.

I held up my hand to keep him from going any further. "Wait. Why is she asking you for money? I thought she was still working at the bar in town?"

"She was, up until a few weeks ago," he answered as he sprinkled cheese over the sauce. "She got fired after her boss caught her stealing from the cash register."

"You're kidding!" I was stunned. Leah may not be the most well behaved person, but stealing isn't something I ever would have expected her to do.

Seth shot me a rueful smile and stopped what he was doing. "I wish I was." He turned to fully face me and moved to stand closer. "That guy that was living with her finally split, and she couldn't afford to pay the rent by herself, or so she says."

"When did that happen?"

Seth cocked his head to the side and thought about it for a moment. "Um, about a month and a half ago, I think?"

"Oh. I had no idea." I felt kind of bad that I had no clue what was going on in my stepsister's life, but that wasn't exactly my fault. Leah has treated me badly for a long time now, so I try my best to avoid her whenever possible, but it wasn't always like that between us. We were never super close, but we used to get along.

It wasn't until Jake and I started dating in high school that things started going downhill with us. Apparently, she had a thing for Jake, which I hadn't known beforehand, and got really pissed off at me, thinking I somehow stole her chance with him. What she still doesn't seem to realize is that she never had a chance with him to begin with. Personally, I think Leah is just jealous, because she's never met someone who loved her the way that Jake loved me, but that's just a theory I have. Regardless, she's been a major bitch to me and everyone else ever since then, and it doesn't appear that she'll change anytime soon.

"You've had enough going on without having to worry about her, too." Seth shrugged at me and then finished putting the toppings on the pizza, and then turned and put them both in the oven for me, setting the timer for about 25 minutes. "But enough about all of this. I'm sure things will work out for Leah. For now, let's go watch the movie. I don't even know what they picked while we were in here." He reached over and grabbed my phone, handing it to me before he tossed his arm over my shoulder and walked us out to the living room where the others were cheering at the fight scene on the tv.

I walked over to the recliner and sat down in it, sighing in relief as I reclined it back and got my feet up. After a few seconds, I turned my curious gaze to the tv screen. "What are we watching?"

" _Dragon Blade_ ," Jared answered absently, his attention focused on the screen. "Now hush! I need to pay attention to the subtitles to know what's going on."

I scrunched my nose up in disappointment. I wasn't really fond of movies that needed subtitles. I always seem to miss stuff because I was busy reading them. But as I watched on in silence, I actually started to get into the movie. I especially like the part where the Silk Road Protectors and the Roman soldiers showed off their training techniques. It was cool. A few minutes later, I realized who the lead actors were, Jackie Chan and John Cusack. Oddly enough, they complimented each other nicely.

Pretty soon the pizzas were done and Sam was kind enough to offer to go get them out of the oven and slice them up for us. We paused the movie and all got up to grab a few slices before making our way back to the living room to start the movie again. I was just as eager as the rest of them to find out what happens with the rest of it. The movie ended about an hour later, much to our disappointment.

"That was an awesome movie," said Embry as he finished eating a piece of crust.

"I agree with Embry. I didn't think I'd like it at first, but it sucked me in. My favorite part is near the end when all of the different warrior tribes showed up to fight," I told them happily.

"Yeah, that was pretty sweet, especially when the music changed to match each tribe. Very epic." Paul added with a grin on his face, as well as a bunch of pizza sauce, but I wasn't going to tell him that. I just smiled at him and nodded my head in agreement, trying not to laugh at the same time.

Quil noticed it, but couldn't hold back his chuckles. Paul looked at him quizzically and asked, "Dude, why are you laughing at me? I didn't say anything funny."

That made Quil laugh even harder, gaining the attention of the others. "You've got pizza sauce all over your face, man! You should see yourself right now."

"What? Where?" he asked, wiping the back of his hand across the left side of his mouth. "Did I get it?"

Sam shook his head wryly at him. "You got some of it, but use a napkin, you big ape."

I shook my head at them in amusement and tossed Paul a napkin so he could clean himself off. "Why is it that everytime we all get together, you guys start acting like giant children? I don't get it."

"You wouldn't. It's a guy thing, Bells," Seth stated, as if it were that simple.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Uh huh. Sure it is." I looked around the room and asked, "Anyways, what are we going to watch next?"

"How about you pick this time, Bella?" Jared suggested.

"Okay." After thinking about it for a minute, I finally decided on the next movie. "How about _Jaws_? It's a classic."

A chorus of groans erupted from the group and I looked at them all curiously. "What?"

"Really, Bella? Haven't you seen that movie enough times already?" Embry asked with an exasperated sigh. "You can practically quote the whole thing."

Seeing the annoyed look on his face and on everyone else's, I decided to play nice and choose another movie, even though they did tell me I could pick the movie in the first place. I lowered the footrest on the recliner and got up to walk over to my DVD shelves. I tilted my head to the side to read the titles more easily and scanned them all over three times before picking out _The Ghost and The Darkness._

I turned around to face the guys and held the DVD up. "How about this one? I can't remember the last time I watched it."

They all agreed to give it a go, and when I got back to my recliner, Quil snatched the case from me and scanned the front cover. "I don't think I've ever seen this one. What is it about?"

"Um, you're holding the DVD case. Read the back of it," Seth told him, and shook his head at his idiocy.

We all had a little laugh at that and then waited a minute while Quil read the plotline. When he was finished, he said, "Sounds interesting." He then stood up and walked over to the DVD player and put it in. Whoever had the remote pushed the play button and started it up.

We were only about eight minutes into the movie when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." I lowered my recliner again and got up to answer the door. "Pause the movie while I go see who's here, please."

I waddled my way to the front door and opened it. Not only was I surprised at what I saw, but I was also a little bit taken aback. Standing on my porch were not only Edward and Jasper, but also three other men I had never seen before.

"Um...Hi?" I greeted, while trying to keep the surprise out of my voice. It didn't work, and ended up sounding more like a question.

"Hi," Edward answered flatly, as though he would rather be anywhere else but here.

Hearing the tone in Edward's voice, Jasper shot him a look and then turned and smiled at me. "Hey, Bella. It's nice to see you again." He gestured to all of the vehicles in my driveway and said, "I hope we're not interrupting anything."

"Don't worry about it, Jasper. I'm just having a movie day with my friends...and speaking of which, who are they?" I asked, nodding towards the unfamiliar men.

"You must be Bella. I'm Emmett, Jasper's cousin from Chicago," said the giant man, before Jasper could answer me. He had short curly brown hair, and sparkling blue eyes, and a smile that caused his dimples to show. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Likewise," I answered with a grin. I couldn't help it, his smile was infectious.

"Dude, can you move aside and let us introduce ourselves?" asked the guy with the light brown hair.

"Oops. Sorry." Emmett moved to the left and the man who spoke before stepped forward and held out his hand for me to shake.

"Hello, I'm Riley and this is my brother James," he said gesturing to the man beside him. I could definitely see the family resemblance. They both had the same blue eyes and facial features, but James was taller, and had medium blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, whereas Riley had cropped, light brown hair.

I shook Riley's hand and then his brother's. "It's nice to meet you both." I stepped back inside the house and opened the door a little wider. "Well, now that we have the introductions out of the way, how about you guys come inside?"

They all shuffled in behind me and I closed the door. "I'd love to give you all a tour, but like I mentioned earlier I have other company, but I'm sure Edward or Jasper could show you guys around and tell you the rules." I looked over at the two with a hopeful expression.

"I wouldn't mind doing that," Jasper replied kindly at the same time Edward sighed in irritation. He was apparently in one of his moods again. "But all they need to know at the moment is how to get to the studio. We've got a bunch of equipment in the back of my truck that we wanted to get moved in."

"Oh. Well...in that case, would you like some help? I've got a living room full of very large Quileutes that are great at moving stuff," I offered.

"Sure. I wouldn't mind some help. That stuff is heavy," Riley said with a little sigh. "But first I have a question. What's a Quileute?"

* * *

 **A/N: So Bella got all of the guys together again. And we got to meet the newest members of Edward's band. But we still don't know what he was doing in the weeks he was gone.**

 **I'm still not sure what my updating schedule will be over the next week or two, so all I can do is try my best to get the next chapter done soon. :)**


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: I am so sorry for long wait. I'm trying really hard to stay on track with updating, but sometimes real life and other priorities get in the way.**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 27**

So you can save your petty explanations  
I don't have the patience  
Before you even say it I know  
You let your pride or your ego  
Talk slick to me, no  
That is not the way I get down  
And look at how you lose your composure

 _-Lies, Greed, Misery_ by Linkin Park

 **BPOV**

I chuckled at Riley's question. "You'll find out in a moment. I'll be right back." With a smile still on my face, I turned and walked down the hallway back to the living room and stood in the threshold. "Hey guys? The people using the studio are here, and they could use some help bringing their equipment in. Do you mind giving them a hand?"

"How much stuff needs to be moved?" Jared asked curiously.

"I have no clue," I responded, shrugging my shoulders. "But if you guys help them out, we can get back to the movie more quickly."

The men took a few moments to think about it and decided to go ahead and help the band with their stuff. We all walked back to the foyer where I had left the band and quickly introduced everyone, and even re-introduced Paul and Edward as well as Sam and Jasper.

Soon afterwards, the two groups of men came up with a plan on how to work together, so they could move the heavy equipment to the studio without damaging the inside of my house. Once they got started though, I made myself scarce so I wouldn't get in their way, even though the urge to hover and make sure nothing of mine got broken in the process was strong.

As I relaxed in my recliner, I closed my eyes and listened to the various conversations going on between the guys. Some of the topics they talked about were music, sports, and women. I was happy that they all seemed to be getting along, which was important, as they would most likely run into each other quite often from now on.

I continued listening for another twenty minutes before the men finally finished moving the band's equipment into the studio. Afterwards, everyone shuffled into the living room.

"Did everything go okay?" I asked.

Emmett was the first to respond. "Yep," he said with a big grin. "Everything went smoothly, thanks to your guys' help."

I smiled back at him. "Good. I'm glad to hear that."

"I think I also speak for the rest of the guys when I say that we're sorry for showing up out of the blue and messing with your plans. _Someone_ was supposed to call you and let you know we were coming over." He glanced over at Edward, who ducked his head at Emmett's words.

"I forgot." I don't know if anyone else picked up on it, but while his posture looked like someone who felt a little guilty, the tone in his voice held a hint of defiance. That led me to believe that instead of actually 'forgetting' to call me, Edward purposely chose not to. I have a feeling it also has something to do with him not returning my calls or texts for the past two weeks.

"I understand. Things tend to slip our minds when we're really _busy_ ," I said to Edward, as soon as he made eye contact with me. "That's probably why you didn't respond to my texts and calls, right?" I wanted him to know that I knew he'd been ignoring me. And I knew the second he got it, as his eyes widened for a split second before narrowing at me. It seems I hit a nerve, and I felt the smallest hint of satisfaction with that knowledge.

"Yeah. Speaking of being _busy_ , we need to get going. We have things to do," he said evenly while staring me down, his eyes now dark with his growing irritation. However, I wasn't going to back down easily, and Edward ended up breaking eye contact first.

Then without another word, he abruptly turned around and left, leaving everyone else in the room with confused looks on their faces. A few seconds later, the sound of my front door slamming shut echoed through the house, making me wince a little.

"Um...what was all that about?" Seth asked, making everyone turn and look at me expectantly.

"I called him out on something. That's all," I replied with a small shrug.

"What? You're not gonna give us any details?" Jared asked disappointedly.

"No. Definitely not." I meant it, too. I love my guys, but sometimes they tend to speak before they think and blab to the wrong people, or they blow things out of proportion. "End of discussion." And seemingly to emphasize my statement, the sound of a horn being honked rang out.

"Well, I guess that's our cue to get going. If we don't, chances are that Edward will end up stealing my truck and leaving us all here," Jasper said with a laugh. I knew he was joking, but at the same time, I also knew that with as unpredictable as Edward could be, it was a real possibility.

I let out a small chuckle as well and said, "Alright. It's been nice seeing you again, Jasper." And to the others, I said, "It's been really nice meeting all of you. I look forward to seeing you guys again."

They all nodded in agreement, and after my guys said goodbye, the remaining band members soon departed.

"Well, that was...interesting," Sam mused.

"And unexpected, but at least those guys seemed pretty cool," Embry added happily as he reached for the DVD remote. He was about to restart the movie, but I needed to get up and take a bathroom break real quick.

"Hold on, guys. I'll be right back," I told them as I got up and quickly made my way to my bathroom. When I was finished a few minutes later, I made my way back towards the living room, but the sounds of the guys whispering made me stop.

The only reason they would be whispering to one another would be because they were talking about something that they knew would upset me, so I decided to stop and listen in.

 _"I can't believe that guy just stormed out of here like that."_

 _"Well, Bella did say that she called him out on something."_

 _"There had to be more to it than that. Did you see the way they were staring each other down?"_

Of course. I should have known they would be talking about the little showdown with Edward. I wasn't worried about them figuring out what happened between us, but I didn't really feel like standing here and listening to them try. So I walked back into the living room, and as I sat down, I said, "You're not very quiet when you whisper, you know."

"Crap, you heard us?" Quil asked me with a look of surprise on his face.

I nodded at him and then looked at everyone with a serious expression on my face. "I get that you all want to know what happened between me and Edward, but it's none of your business."

"Bella, we're just-" Sam started to speak, but I cut him off.

"I know, Sam. You're all concerned about me. But please trust me when I say that none of you have anything to worry about as far as Edward goes, okay?" I paused for a moment and took a deep breath before I continued talking. "I'm grateful that I have all of you guys looking out for me, and I know that you take that much more seriously since we lost Jake, but that doesn't mean that you always have to come to my rescue whenever something happens. I've already had a similar conversation about this kind of thing with Sam, but I need the rest of you to understand that, too."

Paul cocked his head to the side and asked, "Why didn't you say something sooner? We would have toned things down a bit had we known that's how you felt."

"I didn't have a reason to, I guess."

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but that answer works for me," Seth said as he looked around at everyone. "How about we get that movie started again?"

After a moment, the other guys all agreed, and for the next two hours we all sat and watched as two man-eating lions terrorized railroad workers until the hero came to the rescue. By the time the movie ended, the mood from my earlier conversation had lifted.

Not long after that, the guys decided to get going, but before they left they all gave me hugs and told me to let them know when I'm in the mood for another movie day. I happily agreed to that, and soon I found myself all alone in my house with only my unborn child and the tv to keep me company...although it didn't really bother me that much at this point.

The events of today wore me out, so I went into the kitchen and heated up some of the pizza I saved for my dinner, and went and watched tv while I ate until I began to doze on and off. I then got up and walked into the kitchen to throw my plate in the trash, and then made a quick trip to the bathroom before getting myself ready for bed. I was so exhausted I drifted to sleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

* * *

 **A/N: So, I chose the lyrics at the beginning of the chapter for two reasons. The first one is that I thought it really fit Edward's actions in this particular chapter. The second reason, is that since the last time I updated this with a real chapter (not the A/N), Chester Bennington, the beloved lead singer of the rock band Linkin Park, passed away. (I know he doesn't sing the lyrics above, though.**

 **Anyways, I'll start working on the next chapter, but as I continue to be busy, I'm not sure when I'll get it finished and posted. If it takes longer than 3 weeks, I'll post another A/N to let you know how it's coming along.**


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: Yay! It didn't take me 3 months to update again. LOL**

 **I would have had this done last night, but I was too exhausted to finish it. I attended my very Pow Wow yesterday, and I had a blast. I was blown away by the amount of time and effort that goes into making the regalia. It was awesome.**

 **Anyways, on to the story.**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 28**

 **BPOV**

Four days.

That's how long it's been since Edward and his new band members crashed my movie day. I hadn't heard anything from them in the days that followed, until last night.

I had been in the process of finishing up some shading on a new tattoo design for a long-time customer of mine when my phone chimed with a new text message. After I set my smudge stick down and wiped my graphite covered fingers on a towel I keep nearby, I grabbed my phone and looked at the message.

 **We're coming over tomorrow at noon. - Edward**

That was it. It was very straightforward and to the point, but at least he didn't 'forget' to give me a heads up this time.

After spending a few minutes trying to decide whether or not I should try and start up a conversation with him, I finally decided not to and sent him a simple, "Ok."

Then I went back to work until I finally finished the design around midnight, and went straight to bed afterwards.

I ended up sleeping pretty well throughout the night, but after I woke up this morning, everything just seemed to go downhill from that moment on.

First, I ended up stubbing my toe on the corner of my nightstand on the way to the bathroom. Then when I went to take my shower, the water wouldn't heat up, so I was unable to take one. After that, I brushed my teeth. As I reached over to put the cap back on the toothpaste tube, I accidentally knocked it off the sink and onto the floor. Realizing I needed to get down on my hands and knees to pick it up, I carefully maneuvered myself down into position, but at the last second I lost my balance and my knee landed on top of the tube, squirting toothpaste all over the floor.

That wasn't the last bit of my bad luck though. Once I finished cleaning up the mess in the bathroom, I went to get dressed and discovered that all of the bras I had bought a little over a week ago, no longer fit me right, even though I wore one the day before and was fine.

At this point, I was feeling so overwhelmed and frustrated, that I just burst into tears. By the time I finally stopped crying, my eyes were all red and puffy, and my head felt like it was going to explode. I went into back into the bathroom and took some Tylenol and then dampened a washcloth with cold water to use as a compress on my face to reduce some of the puffiness.

After some time had passed, my headache disappeared and my face looked much better. I then went back into my bedroom and grabbed my cell phone to check the time, and saw that I had a little over two hours until Edward and the rest of his guys showed up.

So during that time, I managed to eat some breakfast, do a load of laundry, tidy up the house a little bit, and still have time to spare.

I about to sit down to rest and look up some information on my phone regarding my water heater when the doorbell rang. I was a bit taken by surprise since it was still too early for the band to arrive, but then I remembered that Sam was supposed to stop by to pick up the tattoo design I worked on last night.

I went and answered the door, and was greeted by Sam's smiling face.

"Good morning, Bella," he said cheerfully.

"Hi, Sam."

"What? No 'Good morning' for me?" he teased.

I rolled my eyes and replied, "This morning has been anything but good." I stepped aside and let him in.

"Why?" he said, his smile falling as he stepped passed me and into the house.

I closed the front door and began to tell him about everything that happened this morning as we started to walk towards my craft room. By the time we reached it, I could tell that he was trying hard not to laugh. Eventually, he couldn't help himself and laughed until his eyes watered, while I stood there scowling at him with my arms crossed in front of me.

"Are you done?" I asked him as his laughter died down.

He wiped his eyes and took a deep breath and replied, "Yeah. I think I'm good now." I could still hear the amusement in his voice. "You've had one hell of a day so far, Bells."

"That's an understatement, Sam." I walked to my desk and grabbed the sketch, which I placed in a clear plastic folder and then walked back and handed it to him. "Here you go. I think it's going to be JD's new favorite," I said, switching topics. JD was my very first customer when I became an offical tattoo artist after college, and he fell in love with my first design for him. After that, I became his go to artist, and he's been a loyal customer ever since. Sam said he was pretty bummed when he called to make an appointment a few days ago and found out I couldn't tattoo him myself, so after some convincing, he agreed to let Sam do it as long as I was the one to come up with the design.

After he scanned the sketch, Sam shook his head in disbelief. "Damn, Bella. I think you're right. You've really outdone yourself with this one."

I blushed at his praise. "Thanks."

Sam smiled at me and then looked down and checked his watch. "I'd love to stay and chat some more, but I've got to get going. Do you need anything before I go?"

"Well, unless you know the name of someone who can take a look at my water heater, I can't really think of anything else."

"Actually, I do. Quil's dad knows all about that stuff. Do you want his phone number?"

I smiled and nodded at him. "Yeah, that would be great." I went and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from my desk and wrote down the number that Sam rattled off.

I thanked him again for his help and gave him a quick hug, and then he left for work.

I immediately went and got my phone, and called Quil's father, Mr. Ateara. After explaining why I was calling him, he was more than happy to help me out and told me he'd be here in half an hour. After we both said our goodbyes, we hung up and I went and turned on the tv while I waited for him to show up.

True to his word, he arrived right on time.

When I went and answered the door, I was immediately scooped up into a big hug, making me squeek in surprise. Mr. Ateara's loud laughter followed, and he released me from his grasp with a big grin on his face. "Hey there, chicky. It's been a while," he greeted cheerfully.

I smiled at his old nickname for me, and gestured for him to come inside. "I know. There's been a lot going on lately."

"I can understand that," he answered, the look on his face changing from happy to sympathetic. "You been doin' okay?" he asked, referring to how I was coping without Jake.

"Yeah. I mean...I have good days and bad days, but for the most part, I'm alright."

"I'm glad to hear that, chicky. You hear from Billy lately?" he questioned as I showed him to the utility room, where the laundry machines and water heater are located.

I frowned and told him I hadn't.

After we reached the room, he walked over to the water heater and set his metal toolbox on the floor with a thud. As he kneeled down to look for the problem, without looking at me, he said, "I wouldn't worry about him too much, chicky. He'll come around when he's ready. You'll see."

"I really hope so," I murmured softly.

It only took Mr. Ateara two minutes to figure out that the pilot light on my water heater had gone out and needed to be re-lit, which took less than a minute to do.

Then, he stood and picked up his toolbox and said, "Well, you're all set, chicky. It'll take about an hour or two for the water to fully heat up."

I gave the older Quileute a grateful smile. "Thank you so much for coming out here and fixing this for me. I really appreciate it. How much do I owe you?"

Mr. Ateara shooed his empty hand at me. "Ah, don't worry about it. With all of the times you've fed my son over the years, you've saved me a small fortune," he joked.

I laughed at that. "Yeah, I guess I have."

We talked for a few more minutes before he got called for another job and had to leave. I walked him to the front door to show him out, and when I opened it, I saw vehicles pulling into my driveway.

The band had arrived...which meant Edward had, too.

* * *

 **A/N: What did you think?**


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: Hi, all! Happy New Year!**

 **I know it's been awhile since I updated again, but I didn't plan on getting roped into making a bunch of jewelry for my family members for the holidays this year. On the plus side, I got paid for all of it, so that's always a good thing. :)**

 **In between doing that, I tried to get a little bit of this chapter done at a time, and ended up getting a bit stuck, so I changed my tactics a little and went with both a BPOV and an EPOV. I figured you'd like hearing Edward's side of things again.**

 **Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns** _ **Twilight**_ **.**

* * *

 **Chapter 29**

 **BPOV**

As Mr. Ateara stepped out onto the porch, he looked over at the guys getting out of their vehicles. "Friends of yours?" he asked me with a nod in their direction.

"Yeah. Those are the guys that are here to use Jake's music studio," I replied as we watched them laugh and playfully shove each other before starting towards the house.

"Huh." He leaned towards me and whispered, "They look like a bunch of hooligans."

I laughed out loud at that.

"They're not," I assured him. I looked back over at them as they walked up the driveway, and could understand why he would think that. Even though it was a bit chilly out, they weren't wearing coats, but they did wear short-sleeved shirts, showing off their various tattoos on their arms. It's not often that you see people with that much ink in Forks. "They're actually very nice."

Mr. Ateara didn't look so convinced. "If they give you any trouble, you feel free to give me a call. I'll be here with my shotgun in no time." Then he winked at me.

I cracked a smile and leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Good," he said with a quick nod and a grin. As the men got closer to the house, Mr. Ateara turned and started down the steps of the porch, giving the guys a polite 'hello' as he passed them. Once he reached his truck, he looked back at me and shouted, "Take care, Chicky!"

"You too!" I hollared back at him, right before he opened the door and hopped inside, closing the door and starting the truck up. After giving me a wave, he slowly pulled out of the driveway, and I watched him drive off before turning my attention to the boisterous men now making their way up onto the porch.

"Hey, guys. Welcome back," I greeted with a smile, before stepping aside to let them into the house. "Come on in."

"Thanks, Little Momma. It's pretty chilly out here," Emmett said with a mock shiver, as he stepped past me into the house, followed by the rest of the guys with Edward being the last one in.

I playfully rolled my eyes and grinned up at Emmett as I closed the front door. "Well...that's what jackets are for, tough guy. I know that you're probably used to some pretty cold weather being from Chicago and all, but up here in Forks, it's not just cold...it's wet, too. You can get sick pretty easily without the proper clothing," I finished explaining to him.

"Geez, you sound like my mom."

I shrugged my shoulders and answered Emmett with a smile. "What can I say? I've always been kind of maternal towards people, though more so lately." I didn't want to be rude and keep them from the reason they were here, so I waved them on further into the house. "Anyways, you guys can go on ahead and do your thing. If you need anything, you can either find me in the living room or my craft room."

With a loud clap of his hands, Emmett grinned and said, "Cool. Alright boys, let's go get my drum set and the rest of the equipment put together so we can start rockin'."

As Emmett practically flew down the hallway leading out of the foyer and towards the studio, the other men started walking at a slower pace after him. As Edward took a step forward to follow them, I reached out and gently tugged on his arm, stopping him in his tracks. He looked at me with a blank expression on his face, but then looked down at where my hand remained wrapped around his arm and frowned. I released him from my grasp and muttered a quick, "Sorry."

Edward sighed heavily and looked up at my face, and asked, "What do you want?"

I took a moment to really take a good look at him, and noticed dark circles under his eyes, indicating that he hasn't been sleeping well. Taking a deep breath, I quietly asked, "When you have a moment later on, will you come and find me? We really need to talk."

For a moment, it looked like he was going to agree with me, but then he shook his head at me and said, "I'm sorry. Not today, Bella."

I tilted my head to the side and asked him, "Why not? You can't keep avoiding me, Edward."

Edward tore his gaze away from mine and looked down at his feet. "I know that," he said quietly. When he looked up at me again he said, "Look Bella, these past few weeks have been really rough on me, and today is the first good day I've had in while. I just don't want to ruin it with any drama, okay?" I looked up into his tired green eyes, which seemed to be silently pleading with me to agree, and I couldn't help but give in.

"Okay," I agreed. As much as I didn't want to have to put our much needed conversation off, I of all people, knew exactly how he felt right now.

A small, grateful smile appeared on his face, and his whole body seemed to relax a bit. "Thank you, Bella."

I nodded at him and then started to walk past him, and as I did so, I stated, "This doesn't mean I'm letting you off the hook, Edward. We _will_ talk." I stopped walking and turned around to face him again. "But for now...I get why you need this. So...I guess I'll just leave you to your work."

Then, I turned around again and walked away from Edward, leaving him standing in the foyer, and I didn't stop walking until I reached my craft room.

 **EPOV**

I let out a heavy sigh and reached up and to run my fingers through my hair in frustration as I watched Bella walk away from me.

Even though she said she understood why I didn't feel like talking today, she obviously wasn't happy about it, but she didn't push the subject. Instead, she chose to give me some space.

That simple gesture just proved to me even more that Bella was special. Even though she's only known me for a short period of time, she seemed to understand me better than even my closest of friends, whom I've known all my life, and knew when to keep pushing me or just take a step back.

But that was all the more reason for me to keep ignoring and avoiding her.

After I blew up at her two weeks ago, I felt like the biggest asshole in the world, even more so after I learned how much my words had hit home for her. I didn't know how to go about apologizing to her, so like a coward, I ran...to Chicago.

Granted, Jasper tagged along, too, most likely because he sensed something was up, but he never questioned me.

The both of us ended up crashing at Emmett's place while we were there and spent our time visiting Alec and just hanging out and catching up. Those first few days, everything was going great...until I decided to go and visit Tanya's grave.

I had attended her funeral, but I never went back there afterwards. It shames me to admit that that was because not long after Tanya died, I began to experiment with weed and alcohol, which ultimately led up to my use and addiction to heroin. And like any addict knows, when you're high, that's all that matters at the moment, until you come down from it. Then what matters is finding that high again, and the cycle repeats. During that time in my life, it never occurred to me to go back to Tanya's gravesite. If anything, I tried my best to not think of her at all. It hurt too much.

But while I was back in Chicago, I figured it was about time to go visit her. I just didn't realize how unprepared I was to deal with onslaught of emotions that hit me when I finally went.

I was so overwhelmed by the experience, that I left the cemetery in a sort of daze, and without consciously realizing it, I ended up in a part of town I frequented in order to buy heroin. As soon as I had realized where I was, I turned around and began to walk the way that I came, but I didn't get very far before I heard my name being called.

I made the mistake of stopping to see who was calling me and came face to face with my former dealer, and with my emotions being all out of sorts, I couldn't resist buying some heroin off of him. I ended up not using it, though. Not because I didn't want to, because I really craved it, but I _couldn't_ use it. It wasn't until after my dealer walked off to make another deal, that I remembered that I no longer carried a small case with a rubber hose, a small spoon, a lighter, and clean needles in it with me.

I was forced to toss the bag of drugs in a dumpster and then I took off back to Emmett's place, which I refused to leave for the rest of our stay, and it was during that time that I decided to start distancing myself from Bella.

She was too good of a person to get caught up in my mess of a life, and I knew that if I didn't do something about it, we'd both end up getting hurt...again. And I couldn't let that happen.

With that thought in mind, I took off towards the studio, passing Bella's craft room in the process. I stopped in the doorway for moment and just watched her as she concentrated hard while her hand furiously moved across the paper in front of her, no doubt creating something incredible. She didn't even notice I was there.

I watched her for another minute before finally moving on to the studio. As I walked inside, Emmett asked, "Dude! We've been waiting on your ass for ten minutes. What the hell took so long?"

"Sorry, man. I talked with Bella for a few minutes and then I kind of spaced out," I answered, reaching over to pick up my black Gibson Les Paul Studio T guitar from its stand and pulling the strap over my head.

"Everything alright between you two?" Jasper asked me.

I sighed and said, "I don't want to talk about it." My tone of voice left no room for argument, so while ignoring the stares from the others, I then proceeded to make sure my guitar was tuned the way I wanted it and then I went and took my place in front of one of the microphones. "Which song do you guys want to start practicing first?"

"I think you should pick, Edward." I looked over to James, surprised to hear him speak up. He's the least talkative person I've ever met.

I looked around at everyone to see them nodding their heads in agreement. "Okay," I muttered to myself. I thought about what transpired earlier between Bella and myself and the decision I came to in regards to our friendship while I was in Chicago, and I thought of the perfect song for the occasion. "How about _Save Yourself_?"

We all took a moment to find the right sheet music before we started.

"Ready?" I asked. After a chorus of 'yeahs', I nodded and started counting down. "3, 2, 1...Go."

James opened the song with a melody on his keyboard and then at the same time, Emmett, Jasper, and Riley joined in. When it came time for me to sing, I belted out the words..."

I'm the Devil's son straight out of Hell,

And you're an angel with a haunted heart.

If you're smart you'd run and protect yourself,

From a demon living in the dark.

There's nothing to be gained, cuz I can never change.

And you can never understand my sickness,

(I'll never understand my sickness.)

Save yourself

From a life full of lies, and a heart full of pain and sorrow.

Save yourself

From the choices I make, cuz nothing but failure follows me.

Save yourself.

Save yourself.

You're the perfect drug, when it hurts like Hell.

I've never needed anyone so much.

There's no one else I love, and I curse myself,

Cuz the right thing is to give you up.

I'm overcome by shame, cuz I can never change,

And you can never understand my sickness.

(I'll never understand my sickness.)

From there, I repeated the chorus a few more times and pretty soon we finished the song.

"Holy shit, you guys. That sounded awesome!" Emmett boasted loudly, after allowing us a moment to rest.

Jasper had a huge smile on his face as he nodded in agreement with his cousin. "Yeah. I have to say, I wasn't expecting our first practice song to sound so perfect right off the bat. Good job, guys."

"That doesn't mean we can expect the rest of them turn out like that, though, and it could still use a few minor tweaks here and there." I set my guitar down on its stand, and then left to grab a couple bottles of water from the kitchen. When I got back, I handed one to each person and then opened my own bottle up and downed half of it, letting the cool water soothe my throat.

While we rested, we discussed some of the changes we felt we should make for the song, and once we all agreed on what to do, we gathered our instruments and went back to our spots.

"Okay...ready? 3, 2, 1, Go!"

* * *

 **A/N: The song in this chapter is** _ **Save Yourself**_ **by My Darkest Days. I mentioned in a previous chapter that I planned to use it, so I finally got to a point in the story that I felt it was perfect for. I highly suggest going to Youtube and watching the official lyric video. I personally love how the song sounds. :)**

 **Anyways, I don't have an idea of when the next update will be. I'll just have to update when I can.**

 **So...that being said, enjoy your New Year's celebrations and stay safe.**

 **See you soon!**


	30. Author's Note

**A/N: Hi, everyone. I know it's been a few months since I've updated this story, but there has been so much going on in my life, I just haven't felt up to writing.**

 **In early March, one of my cousins passed away unexpectedly. She struggled for years with a Heroin addiction, but found the strength to get clean and stayed that way up until her death. She was one of my inspirations for the addiction theme in this story, so it's also made it difficult to write.**

 **On top of that, another family member had a stroke the other day, but is doing a little better.**

 **I will continue to write this story at some point (I even have some of the next chapter written already), but for now, I just need more time to work through things.**

 **In the meantime, if anyone has questions about this story or any of my other ones, feel free to send me a PM, and I will reply as soon as I can.**


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